


The Truth

by yoslina_the_sinner



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Boys Kissing, Confessions, Crying, Denial of Feelings, Dicks, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Heavy Petting, Homesick Lance (Voltron), I'm Bad At Tagging, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Keith is a cat, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Purring, Singing Lance (Voltron), Soul-Searching, and slowly realize their feelings, but not in the way you think, but not until later, they go on a quest, yes dicks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11435829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoslina_the_sinner/pseuds/yoslina_the_sinner
Summary: He ran as fast as he could and before he could even like of a plan, he tackled the creature. "Ooof!" Lance wheezed when he landed on top of it, holding it down as it struggled. It looked like a Galra, probably male. Yellow eyes and...a tail? That was new. And he had a pretty face, it looked familiar. He turned pinkish and gaped at him. "K-Keith...?(or: Keith turns into a Galra/kitty-cat after a planets atmosphere affects him and Lance decides to tag along to find out why. And then some stuff after that. Takes place after The Blade of Marmora and Allura is still a grump)





	1. The Transformation

**Author's Note:**

> note that this is currently a roleplay so the writting might be a little weird
> 
> also note that i am the Lance, Pidge, Shiro, and Coran  
> and that my friend is the Keith, Hunk, and Allura

He was on Earth, which was surprising considering that he was supposed to be in space fighting off aliens with giant sentient robot lions. But he felt his throat close and his heart stop when he finally started to look around. Lance was home. The blue paladin felt tears well up in his eyes as he ran to the ocean shore. Lance was home, Lance was home, Lance was, Lance...Lance...Lance-- "LANCE! WAKE UP!" a voice roughly shouted, shaking him awake. 

 

He woke up startled and looked around, gasping for air and sputtering awake. They were all on a bus like ship, heading for some weird pink and purple planet for a mission. Lance quickly turned away from the person who awoke him to wipe his eyes from stray tears. Dammit. Not again. He turned back to apologize to the person, only to glare at him. "Shut up mullet, I was having a good dream." the blue paladin whined, ignoring the look Pidge gave him.

 

Keith rolled his eyes, missing the tears. Lance had been sleeping the entire ride while he got to listen to Hunk and Pidge go off on technobabble. It was just confusing and once they got passed anything to do with ships or the lions then he was lost.   
  
And then there was Lance, sleeping away next to him. Drooling even. It was gross and annoying. At least Lance would not understand with him.   
  
They were getting close and he tried, on his side, to wake Lance up nicely but the guy just wasn't budging. So he resorted to shaking him and yelling his name in his ear.   
  
Keith met his gaze with a grumpy one. "Yeah? Well good for you. We're almost there and you were drooling everywhere."

 

He felt like someone had just punched him and he put a hand to his chest in offence, scowling at Keith. What a stupid showoff fighter pilot asshole! The blue paladin still wasn't used to the others curt and straightforward attitude and honestly he doesn't think he ever will. 

 

Lance quickly wiped his mouth to see if he was actually drooling and turned a little red when he realized that Keith was telling the truth. "W-Was not!" he growled and moved closer and scowl in his face. Serves him right, Pidge stop snickering in the background!

 

Keith was a bit too smug when he saw Lance wipe at his mouth. Yeah, no lying there. He'd been watching him for at least five minutes. Not because he wanted to but because there was nothing else to do on this stupid bus-ship. Seriously, why couldn't they take their lions again? Unstable atmosphere his ass.    
  
"Lance!" Hunk quickly shouted, not wanting a fight in such a small space. "The planet has a really big ocean on it!"

 

Lance immediately forgot about the red paladin's comment and stupid smug smirk and whipped his head around so fast that he almost fell over. "Really?!" he beamed, looking between Hunk and Pidge excitedly.                                               

 

The green paladin nodded, smiling a little at the others excitement despite herself. "Yep, according to the scanners, this planet has a giant body of what seems to be lavender water on it," she said. "What's really interesting about it is that, thanks to this planet's closest moon, the tide is always low enough so that way you can basically walk across it." 

 

The blue paladin just nodded his head like a bobble toy, almost vibrating. All he could really think about was that there iS A FREAKING OCEAN YES!

 

The red paladin knew Lance got excited over water but this was intense. He glanced out the window, trying to determine the water mass from the land but it was all so similar in hue. How were they even going to know where to land?    
  
He made a face as he studied it getting closer. "We're not staying that long. Just scouting then going back. Shiro just wants us to make sure it's safe."

 

"Ughh, you're such a bummer~" he complained. Lance turned to look out the window with Keith, pressing his hand up against the reinforced glass. They were up high so they could see a lot of the land and sea. It was difficult to tell them apart but the blue paladin noticed that the sea had some weird pink masses that sometimes moved around. A school of alien fish maybe? "This planet is so weird..." he mumbled to no one.

 

"All the plants are weird," Keith seemed determine to keep up conversation with the blue paladin. It was at least something different than what had been going on on their way to to the planet. Besides, something about this planet was making him feel uneasy. He just couldn't place it.    
  
They were already speeding up to land on the planet's surface. "When we touch down we should fan out and look for any signs of life. We look, we find out what we need to and we leave. And no playing in the water."

 

Lance blinked at the red paladin's attempt of conversion before turning back to look out the window. "Mhm." The colors are so different from Earth, his mind wandered a bit, wondering if anyone else compares everything little thing to there home planet. 

 

At Keith's next words, he gave him a heated glare before smirking just a little bit cheekily. "But in order to find other life wouldn't have have to look in the water? Plus I'm the water paladin, it's destiny." Lance bit back, wanting to say something about him not being the leader or something.

 

Keith crossed his arms and huffed. He didn't want near the water but someone was going to have to reign in Lance. Hunk would just let him do whatever and Pidge would be far too easily bribed into it. "Fine, but I'm going with you. We're just going to look and that's it. We're not even going in our lions." Which Keith had protested from the very start but Allura was still not talking to him and he wanted out of there as fast as possible so he put up less of a fight than normal.   
  
He sank back a little in his chair. It half made him want to stay as far from the castle as possible and with Lance running around on a strange planet, that was a big possibility.     
  
The ship was touching ground now and Keith watched as it kicked up weird bits of dirt and stones.

 

His smirk widened into a small grin, yeah, take that Keith! Lance glanced back, only to see Pidge wiggling her eyebrows at him. Wait...oh come on! Now he has to hang around mullet face for half of the day! At least now they were both pouting, though neither of them noticed how similar their positions were. 

 

Once they landed, Lance stood up and stretched, listening to Shiro over the com. "Okay team! You know the plan, scout around the area for lifeforms, and if they're sentient, report back to Coran and the princess. Be careful!" the leader spoke out in a commanding manner. 

 

"Don't worry Shiro we got this!~" Lance said smoothly.

 

"Yes sir," Keith responded over the com and stood up slowly. He still felt really uneasy and it was almost doubled now. Something just felt off... but weird feelings were Hunk's thing and he didn't seem bothered in the least as he hurriedly talked to Pidge.    
  
Figuring it was just his own nerves, Keith took the first steps off the ship. The air was supposedly breathable but Keith felt a little like he was winded. It tasted different on his tongue and he made a face. To everyone else it would seem normal. "Ugh, this planet reeks," He complained but that wasn't really even the right word for it. It was just heavy and wrong to him.   
  
"Let's get this over with, Lance."

 

Lance was the last one to leave and he looked up at the sky, hating the way he felt disappointed that it wasn't blue. He looked at Keith and almost felt a tiny itty-bitty concerned flip in his stomach. What's up with him? "Yeah yeah, you don't have to tell me twice." he said, walking past the other paladin and began to wake towards a path in the ground that led to the sea. 

 

"Hey Coran, what kind of planet is this?" he asked to the com. 

 

"Ah this is Veritas, the planet of truth! It is said that people come here to find out hidden secrets about themselves. The atmosphere is one of the most quintessential like in the universe!" Coran babbled, making Lance chuckle. 

 

"That's both weird and kind of cool." he mumbled.

 

Planet of truth, huh? Keith followed after Lance still grumpy. He already knew everything about himself, thanks. It was what was making being on the ship so uncomfortable. He already hated this place, though. His skin felt too tight. It itched and he scratched at it through his gloves. Had they not been  in their armor he would of notched a patch of purple on his neck that was slowly spreading down his spine and the soft hue on his hands.   
  
But they were and he missed it as they kept walking across the pinkish ground. "This isn't a place I'd visit unless someone paid me," He kept his head down though, following the back of Lance's legs with his eyes to make sure he himself didn't trip. He would normally be alert but...    
  
He kept blinking. His vision was zooming in and out, not realizing his eyes would flicker a soft yellow every once in awhile.

 

Lance let out a laugh, surprising himself. "What happened to the whole 'duty' trope you've got going on huh?" he teased, glancing back and smirking when he saw Keith glaring at the floor.  As he turned to look ahead, he felt a sudden warmth on his back and yelped and stopped walking. Keith was leaning on him, for some reason Lance's face got warm, maybe this planet really does affect people. "U-Uhhh dude??"

 

Keith hummed a little. He was dizzy. Very dizzy. He put his head down against the first solid thing he'd come in contact with: Lance's back.   
  
He felt too tight. Everything was too loud or too quiet? He couldn't tell. He could hear a fast but steady thud in front of him.   
  
He moved his head to the side, resting his temple against Lance's cool amour.  "It's too hot here..."

 

Yeah it definitely was getting too hot here now! What is wrong with him?! He tried to bring a scowl to his face but all he could do was bite his lip. "K...Keith, what the quiznak are you doing...?" Lance hissed out, trying to put some heated words into his voice. Wait...did the mullet emo have a fever? Seriously? He started to turned around to look at him.

 

Something long and purple wrapped around Lance's leg before he could turn. Keith's amour had changed slightly to accommodate a  long lion-like tail that now held onto Lance's leg.   
  
Keith felt worse. Everything was itchy and awful. His hair twitched and he paused for a good second. It happened again. And he could control it. He reached up to touch soft protrusions from his head. They flicked backward as soon as he touched them and he found himself more confused. "Lance...?" He muttered, "Something isn't right here..."

 

He looked down, startled. Was that a snake? No...it looked furry and it kept flicking back and forth. When Lance tried to move to look at Keith, it restrained him from doing so. "Yeah I know...are you um," Lance tried to say are you okay but they stuck in his throat. 

 

He took a deep breathe and somehow it was easier to say what was on his mind. "You okay? You look weird. And dizzy!" the blue paladin strained to look at Keith in the eye but the stupid (snake?) thing wouldn't let him!

 

Keith was marveling at his new(?) ears?  He pulled back his hand and startled. It was changed in shape. No! No! NO NO, this was not happening. He pulled away from Lance, his tail finally letting the blue paladin go as he stumbled away.    
  
He was tearing off his armor as fast as he could, tossing it to the ground in heavy thunks. Fur. He was covered in fur. On his hands, on his face. He was in a panic, yellow eyes wide and terrified. "NO! No, no,no!" He kept stepping back away from Lance. This couldn't be happening. What would Shiro say? What would ALLURA do?   
  
They might attack him by mistake. They might- he felt like he was hyperventilating. He needed to get away from Lance before he realized.

 

He heart spiked in fear and his protective teammate kicked into gear. He was finally free enough to turn around, only to see a purple blur run past him to the sea. Lance picked up and red paladin’s armor as best as he could and ran. 

 

Lance felt like the air around him was making his voice break. What is wrong with him? He heard the sound of rushing waves and stopped, panting and dropping the red armor. Where did Keith go? "Keeeeeeith!" he shouted, looking around the ocean. It really was low tide.

 

Keith was running as fast as he could. He could hear Lance behind him. Too close. Too close! He needed to get away. He was a galra now and he needed to run. He half expected shots from Lance's bayard to follow and it only forced him faster.    
  
The ground was wet now but Keith was blinded by panic.  He could hear the ocean-too loud-too loud. Lance's footsteps-too close-too close.   
  
He always faster than Lance but without the armor and with his new body he was much faster. He found an outcropping and dove under it, hiding in the shadows.   
  
He could hear Lance call his name but didn't dare come out. He put his head down on his arms. So much for avoiding the water.    
  
"Lance?" Hunk asked over the com. "What's going on over there?"

 

He huffed out some more breaths before answering. "N-Nothing...I just...lost Keith for second..." he mumbled absentmindedly still looking around. Lance unconsciously walked right into the water, barely dipping his feet in it. Stupid mullet head! Freaking out and then running away! 

 

He kicked the water, making it splash around. He turned off the com before shouting again, "KEEEEEEEEIIIIIITHH! Get your ass back here!" the blue paladin screamed out. He was frustrated, he was angry he-- he saw movement in the corner of his eye. Lance turned towards it.

 

Keith covered his pointed ears. Hot chance, Lance. There was no way he was going to be lured out and shot like an idiot. Not that it was really Lance's style but...   
  
He peered out of his hiding space and toward where he'd left Lance and his amour. Why had he taken it off?   
  
He was soaked now, his... holy fuck was that a tail? He jerked it out of the water, watching the drops falling down into the water at his feet.    
  
He glanced to his reflection on the lavender surface. Teeth, claws, a tail...he was a monster. Just like he thought he would be. Maybe if he waited long enough Lance would forget him and leave.

 

Lance kicked again and looked around some more, he couldn't have just disappeared. The worst thoughts sprang into his head and he quickly shook them off. Geez, he was starting to act like Hunk. Maybe if he turned on his helmet scanner. There was no need, the blue paladin turned and saw a splash, a tail. 

 

He ran as fast as he could and before he could even like of a plan, he tackled the creature. "Ooof!" Lance wheezed when he landed on top of it, holding it down as it struggled. It looked like a Galra, probably male. Yellow eyes and...a tail? That was new. And he had a pretty face, it looked familiar. He turned pinkish and gaped at him. "K-Keith...?


	2. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He studied Lance, searching his face for something. "I don’t...I don't know what happened...I'm a galra...aren't you going to...?" He trailed off, eyes flickering to Lance's bayard.

 

Keith let out a cry of shock as he was tackled. He hadn't been paying attention, too busy staring at his own horrible reflection.    
  
When Lance landed on him, he feared the worst. This was it. Lance had brought they others. He'd be no better off than the other Galra they faced. He was desperate, trying to escape.     
  
His tail wrapped around Lance's arm, trying to pry him off. He peeked up at Lance, his yellow eyes full of fear, ears pressed flat against his head. "Do it quick..." He said, closing his eyes tight again. "Just...make it fast, alright? Tell them I-I...I fell into a chasm or something. Or drowned."

 

He stared at him in silence for a moment, studying his features further. Was this really Keith? The fearless fighter pilot whom he looked up to with envy for years? 

 

"What are you talking about? What happened to you?" Lance blurred out, shuddering at coolness of the water, which dripped around him. 

 

Did...did he really think he would do something like that to him? He knew that he treated the red paladin like a rival, always pushing and annoying him but...he couldn't bear the thought of Keith dying, much less killing him.

 

Keith wasn't fearless. Not now. He stopped trying to escape but he still looked afraid. His eyes fixated on Lance's face. He didn't sound like he was about to put a bullet in his brain.   
  
His tail gently unwrapped from its death grip on Lance's arm and moved to lay flat in the water. Keith was half submerged in the water, shivering in only his black leotard.    
  
He studied Lance, searching his face for something. "I don’t...I don't know what happened...I'm a galra...aren't you going to...?" He trailed off, eyes flickering to Lance's bayard.

 

"The quiznak-- NO?!" he seethed at him, he would glare at him but he thought it would freak him out more. Lance loosed his grip but not completely, watching his teammate flinch when he reached down to grab his bayard. 

 

It glowed bright before turning into his gun. Was Keith really afraid of him? Normally he would be thrilled but this was seriously freaking him out too. He threw his weapon so it landed on the dim pink sand. 

 

"No I'm not!" Lance said again.

 

Keith flinched especially hard when the when the gun was formed. He watched it as it was flung away and his ears lifted up. "No?" He echoed but was already relaxing.   
  


Lance wasn't going to hurt him. But he was still holding him down. That had to mean something he just wasn't sure what.   
  
His tail flickered around with anxiety and he squirmed. "Can you let me go?"

 

Lance eyed the tail suspiciously, it seemed to have a mind of its own and he didn't trust it. But he slowly got off Keith anyway and plopped down in the water. He drew in a deep breath, still staring at the other paladin intensely. 

 

This was...even weirder than when he heard he was Galra in the first place. The face was still the same, though now it was covered with fur and was purple annnnd- "Oh my god you have cat ears." was of course the only logical thing to say.

 

Keith was practically squirming under Lance's scrutiny. He didn't like people staring at him to start with... this was... too intense. His tail splashed around like a nervous fish as he stared right back.   
  
The mention of his ears had them flatten back against his head. He reached up to touch them and shuddered a little. "I can't go back... Not like this... Allura... she'll boot me into space and Shiro!" He looked absolutely wrecked, his arms wrapping around himself as he sat up, still shivering. "He...think of his PTSD! He might cut right through me."    
  
He huddled down on himself. "Just go back and tell the others that you can't find me."

 

Lance shook his head stubbornly, feeling heat prick his cheeks in anger. "No," he snapped, glaring at the pretty water and sand. This was ridiculous, who does he think they are?! They're a team! Keith can't just leave him...and the others! 

 

"No! You are insane?! I can't just leave you here, you're a paladin of Voltron, we need you!" he said, as much as he doesn't want to admit it, he'd miss him. Just a little.

 

Keith looked touched and sat beside Lance. He put his head back against the outcropping. He was freezing and the sneeze he let out was high pitched and small.    
  
His tail flicked then landed across Lance's lap, seeking warmth. "Need me? Lance...I can't go back. Don’t you get it? Look at me." He turned to look at him seriously. "I'm...I just can't. When I looked human Allura wanted nothing to do with me. Now?"

 

He glanced down at the tail before sighing and wrapping an arm around Keith. Just to keep him warmer, wet fur can't be very good. It kind of reminded him of the cliche 'yawn-and-put-arm-over-shoulder-thing'. And the kitten sneezes were kind of cute. Lance shook off his thoughts and turned back to stare at him in disbelief again. 

 

"Keith," he spoke, a tiny bit of annoyance creeped into his voice. "As much as Allura might not like you right now, she can't do shit." the blue paladin said. 

 

A chuckle escaped him at the surprise on the red paladin's face. "Well it's true! You're the right arm of Voltron, our swordsman, and, even though I'm one hundred percent better than you, you're a good pilot. Also Shiro is your brother dude, even if you turned into Zarkon he wouldn't kill you!" he spoke, poking Keith on the forehead.

 

Keith tensed then leaned into the warmth. His tail wrapped around Lance's waist and he shut his eyes a little.    
  
Keith peered up at him when he was poked in the head. Maybe Lance was right. Maybe things were alright. He cracked a small smirk. "Yeah...?"   
  
"Lance buddy look out!" Hunk was rushing toward him with his Bayard in his hand.  "Get away from him! "   
  
Fear shot through Keith's spine as he yanked from Lance and scrambled back again.

 

Lance put his arms up and out in defense, aware that Keith was clinging on beside him. "WoAH! Hunk put that down, it’s not what you think!" he tried to reassure his friend. 

 

"Buddy, this is Actual-Galra-Keith." the blue paladin said, nudging the Galras side. Quiznak, he really hoped that the yellow paladin would believe him.

 

Keith was ready to run again. His eyes were darting. If Hunk was here then where was Pidge? His teeth bared nervously, tail in the air and swishing.    
  
Hunk barely managed to skid to a stop. "What?" He asked before looking over Lance's shoulder. It sure had Keith's hair... "Uhhh... What the crow happened to him?"

 

"I...don't know? I think it has something to do with this planet's-" he started to say but before he could, Pidge popped up out of nowhere. 

 

"Fascinating but how the fuck did he get like that?" she spoke, carefully hiding behind Hunk. 

 

"I don't know! Also stop it, you're gonna freak Keith out!" Lance huffed, moving so he gripped onto the red paladin gently. 

 

"Awe~ Lance, are you worried about him? So sweet!" Pidge teased, causing heat to flow up to Lance's cheeks.

 

Keith jumped when he was touched but kept close to Lance. He was trying to remind himself that these were his friends. They were just as chill as Lance. Still he felt like he should stay near the blue paladin. His tail once again secured around Lance's waist on its own merit.   
  
"Aw, he has cool ears!" Hunk reached out to touch them and Keith didn't think, panicking at the thought of it. He didn't want anyone to touch him, except maybe Lance, but not now. Not his weird ears that were far too sensitive and too loud.    
  
Keith heard a yowl and as he acted fast, teeth clamping down on Hunk's outstretched hand.   
  
It was yanked back just as quickly. "Jeez dude! You could've just said no!"   
  
"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to I just..." Keith stammered trying to keep his distance and stay close to Lance.

 

Lance instinctively pet the tail, holding the red paladin closer and giving Hunk an apologetic look. "It's okay dude, you're still probably getting used to your fursuit." he teased a little. 

 

Pidge snorted and approached closer, no longer hiding behind Hunk. "Are you now Keith's mother? Or boyfriend?" she said. 

 

Lance pouted and stuck his stuck out. "Shut up, what are we going to do now?"

 

Keith relaxed at the stroking and hummed. He put his ears back and quickly snatched his tail away, red under his fur.   
  
"He is not my mother OR my boyfriend!" He protested, glaring at Pidge. Honestly him and Lance?  Yeah right. Still, he had to actively keep his tail away from the other man.   
  
"Just get your samples and get out of here." He crossed his arms and looked away from them.   
  
"Wait, you want us to leave you?" Hunk asked with a frown still rubbing at his hand.

 

"That's what I said! We're not leaving you here." he grumbled at Keith, trying to tone down the hurt he felt at his curtness. Same old same old. 

 

"For once I agree with Lance--" 

 

“HEY!” 

 

"We can't leave you here! It's too risky, even for you. Besides, Lance will miss you~" Pidge spoke sadly, then put on a teasing tone for Lance. 

 

"Wha! S-Shut up, you guys you be the ones to miss him!"

 

Keith turned to stare at them. "I can't leave. Not yet. This is the planet of truth, right?  I need to...sort this out before I can face Allura or Shiro. I just need a day, two days tops."

 

Pidge looked like she was thinking about it for a moment. "Guys, he has a point." she said, nodding her head.

 

Lance pouted and observed Keith closely. Maybe, just maybe, it might help him out. "Sounds like a plan to me? Buuuuut," he paused, for dramatic effect and looked Keith in his new sparkling yellow eyes. 

 

"I'm going with you!"

 

Keith stared at Lance like he was insane. "You're going to what?! No way! This is my inner journey. You can't just...barge into that."   
  
"Uh, he probably should," Hunk stated quietly and poked his fingers together. "I mean abandoning a teammate on an unknown planet? Alone? What happens if you're in trouble? And Shrio would kill us!"

 

"Seeeeeee? Hunk you're the best!" Lance smiled and winked at his friend. He turned back to Keith with confidence. "C'mon, you cannot do this alone, besides, what's the worst that can happen?" he beamed at him, a smirk on his face. 

 

"Well...you could die." Pidge said casually as she looked on her scanners for something. 

 

"Dude!"  the blue paladin complained. 

 

"Haha! Anyway, it turn out that there are some hidden temples around here from when people used to worship this planet like a god or something. Maybe you two could start there?" the green paladin spoke, looking at the red and blue with concern. 

 

"Soooooo, are you up for it or are you too scared, Keith?" Lance challenged.

 

"I still think this is a bad idea, you two don't have any supplies. What will you eat? And what if the tide comes back in? This planet floods!" Hunk kept coming up with reasons, still a bit panicked.   
  
Keith was ignoring him in favor of glaring at Lance. His tail was swishing like an angry cat, his ears plastered to his head with defiance. "I'm not scared of anything except you annoying the Hell out of me." But truthfully he didn't want to be alone. Not really. He hated being left behind.

 

"It's only for one day or two days Hunk, I'm sure this guy and I will be just fine~" he sighed and smiled at his friend for reassurance. His grin faded and he mockingly smirked at Keith. "Buddy, I'm hurt. I thought we bonded~!" Lance whined, pouting a little. 

 

Pidge rolled her eyes but smiled a little, exchanging a look with Hunk that made Lance wonder what they were thinking about. She sighed. "I put the coordinates in your helmets, we'll probably have make an excuse but you two should be alright. If you don't report back in two days we're going to find you! Got it?"

 

The galra gave Lance a long, annoyed look. Stuck for two days on a planet with Lance. Maybe facing Allura would be better. "Fine. But we're following my rules."   
  
Hunk nodded, "And you'll call us if anything happens, right? I'm sure Red will come down but just in case..."

 

He stuck his tongue out at Keith, nudging him annoyingly. "Of course, we'll be okay! Now c'mere you two!" Lance replied, getting up and hugging his two friends. Hunk quickly hugged back and Pidge groaned for mercy.  

 

"Hey how come I have to suffer and not Keith?" she huffed, not really that mad, the blue paladin could tell.   

 

Hmm~ "You're right Pigeon, c'mere Keithy!" Lance teased.

 

Keith turned a dark red, tail whipping back and forth and kicking up water. "What? No! I'm not in the mood for hugging."

 

He gaped like Keith just murdered someone right in front of him. "Are you denying the Hunk Hug Of Friendship? You better get your grumpy cat ass over here or else..." Lance threatened, pausing for dramatic effect. "Hunk will be SAD." at these words, Pidge played along and gasped in horror.

 

"Aww c'mon guys," Hunk responded gently, "He's having a bad day. If he doesn't want to hug then let him be. Would you want hugs if you just turned into an evil space cat?"   
  
Keith flinched at the word evil and huffed. "I just...want to go. Now, Lance." He turned away from the group and started to walk away from the outcropping.   
  
"Lance, be easy on the guy, alright? " Hunk whispered to him. "He's not in a good place right now. Can't you tell?"

 

Lances expression turned darker and his heart flipped a little sadly. This was going to be a long few days. "Welp, I better follow him or the mullet with get lost somewhere." he grumbled, eyes still on Keith. "I'll see you in a few! Love ya!" he called back. 

 

A memory suddenly came to him, wasn't that what he said to his family before he left for the Garrison. The blue paladin shook it off, grabbed the red armor, and chased after the Galra teenager. 

 

Keith was going slow enough that it was pretty easy for Lance to catch up. He glanced over at him for a moment before looking ahead again. "You're the one with the helmet. Where are we going?"   
  
Hunk watched them for a while. "If anyone can make Keith wanna come home again, it's Lance. If he can just let Keith figure this out at his own pace."

Pidge nodded, also which the other two paladin walk away. "Yeah, you're right, hopefully this'll be a good time for them to learn. About that is happening to Keith, and if they can figure out what's happening with each other too." she said, winking at the yellow paladin.    

Hunk rolled his eyes slightly, sighing. "Now what to tell Shiro." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS ARE FREAKING AWESOME AND YOU SHOULD WRITE SOME (if you want to, also hunk and pidge are freaking awesome too)


	3. The Middle Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's heart jumped at being called sharpshooter and his face felt oddly warm, a goofy like smile taking over his face which he quickly covered up with his hand. 
> 
> Then he heard a splash and Keith was gone. He was stunned for a second before, without hesitating, grabbing bayard and leaping into the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i seriously have no idea why that is the title of this chapter, it just made sense to me?

Lance rolled his eyes, doing his best to not trip on anything. "You'd have a helmet too if you put on this freaking armor." he grumbled. He has to be calm, like Hunk said, lay off him for a bit. 

"The closest temple around here is the temple of knowledge, according to Coran, people went there to, y'know, know something. About themselves or other people, the universe, whatever. It's east of here."

Keith eyed his armor. He wasn't sure about wearing it yet. "The helmet hurt my ears," he muttered quietly. He shrugged a little. "Fine. Sounds good to me."

Lance whined and nudged Keith to follow with him. "Could you at least put on the other armor, carrying this stuff is making my arms tried!" he replied, totally not thinking about how it was kind of distracting watching Keith walk around in a black, skin tight suit.

"I can't because of..." He lifted his tail, flush with embarrassment. "Here just..." He held out his arms for the suit.

Lance looked at the tail and then at Keith up and down in silence. He gave him a smile before it was gone with a groaning sigh. "Here, just take half of it, jesus." he said, wondering what he got himself into when he said he would go with him.

Keith took what was offered to him and looked up. It was a pretty cool planet and he was still cold. They'd arrived pretty late too. "We should set up a camp before it gets dark. We don't know what lives here."

He gazed up towards the sky, it looked like the planets sun was setting, and the sky was a shattered shade of pink and purple. "It's not Earth...but pretty." the blue paladin murmured before turning back to Keith. 

"Yeah yeah sure mullet, it can't be that dangerous since all we saw were some fish." Lance sneered, sitting down and patting the ground next to him. The dirt was strangely soft.

Keith shook himself, water flying off. "Not that dangerous? Haven't you ever heard of a kraken? Or sharks?” Still he put down his armor and sat down. "We should find a cave or something."

Lance blinked and had to hide a giggle. "You actually believe in the Kraken? Do you think Nessie lives here too?" he teased, curiously watching the red paladin's new ears twitch and turn at the sound of his voice. 

"As for the cave I don't think there is any on this part of the planet, the runes have caves but..." Lance trailed off and looked at Keith's eyes again. They were yellow, but the still had the same fire. How does he know what that looks like?

"Of course not. Nessie lives in Scotland" He answered seriously. He felt too exposed out here. He put his tail in the water and wiggled it around. "I'm hungry. This was stupid."

Lance looked dumbfounded. "Holy crap you actually do believe in that stuff." he giggled, watching the tail with a quirky smile. 

"Also this isn't stupid, it was your freaking idea in the first place," the blue paladin said, wondering if he was ever going to see Keith's normal skin ever again. Wait what- 

"I'M GONNA LOOK FOR FOOD." he shouted suddenly getting up and tried walking away, slightly flustered.

"Well duh,  aliens are real..."   
  
Keith put his ears down and turned to watch him go. "W-Wait! You're gonna leave? I thought we were supposed to- OW!" He yowled and lifted up his tail, a fish hooked into the end. "Lance! Get it off!"

Lance turned around thinking there was a threat, only to see Keith jumping up and down, tail wagging back and forth. 

And he couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "HaHAhaHA! HoAaly ShiAT!" he crowed out, approaching the red paladin with a grin.

Keith whined out and stared at the fish clamped to his tail. "Lance! Don't just stand there! Get it off! It hurts!" He didn't want to touch it.

His chuckles died down a little and he grabbed his tail gently. It took a few tugs to actually get the pink fish off, once he did he put it on the beach shore. Lance tilted his head curiously, Keith's tail was soft, and petted the part where it got bit. "Are you okayyyyy?"

Keith was grumpy now but the touch on his tail made him relax a little. The pain wasn't that bad now that the fish's tiny teeth were out. He half closed his eyes and hummed out. "Think so. Fuckin fish...can we eat it in revenge?"

Lance looked at him in surprise, wondering why he looked so blissed out but smirked at the idea. "Good idea grumpy cat!" he replied. 

He turned and petted the tail in his hands, feeling the texture of it. That was weird, it felt alive but not really at the same time. Said tail actually wrap itself around the blue paladins hands. "I think your tail likes me~!"

"Mmm?" Keith asked sounding rather distracted. That felt really nice. "M'not a cat." Though even as he said it he was moving closer to Lance. 

If his tail felt that good. "Can you get my ears for me? No gloves though. They feel weird." His eyes were half lidded, unfocused.

His heart jumped to his throat and he stammered in confusion, "I-- what? KeiTH?" Lance gulped and slowly reached out to touch the Galras ears. 

"Oh..." he breathed out, they were soft and kind of fluffy-ish. Keiths ears twitched sometimes when he touched a certain spot, he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. 

"Umm?"

Keith made a soft low rumbling sound at the contact. Oh yea. That was better than he thought it would be. He pressed his ear into Lance's hand before curling up next to him, putting his head on Lance's lap. 

He could stay like this forever, pleasant tingles going up and down his spine. "That's nice, Lance..."

Lance McClain is currently dying, on one hand, this is freaking adorable and could a possible used for blackmail, on the other hands, this was KEITH. Who was now currently on his lap and freaking PURRING and his face could not be more red. "O-Oh...oh my gosh.." the blue paladin gasped, totally (NOT) liking the feel of his ears in his hands.

Keith was completely blissed out and unaware of the torment he was inflicting. He just purred and rubbed against Lance's thigh with his cheek. "We should... camp here for the night."

The blue paladin made a choking sound, trying desperately to keep his composure in check. His belly was starting to heat up with something close to butterflies and NO NO NOPE this was not happening to him. No quiznaking way! 

"S-Soundssss like a plan...!" Lance chuckled nervously, stroking along the back of the fluffiness.

Keith hummed his approval and sighed out. He always liked to be touched. He just never instigated it. He shut his eyes, fully relaxed for the first time in a long time. He could get used to this. "Why did you come with me?"

He stiffened, momentarily stopping his movements. Why was he hesitating? Wasn't the answer obvious? But somehow his voice wouldn't let him say what he wanted to say. This planet was definitely weird. 

"B...Because I wanted to? What other reason do I need?" Lance said, hands stroking the ears i hopes that Keith won't hear his voice wavering.

Keith made a sound when Lance stopped touching him. He went to look at him but the hands were back and he sank his head back down on Lance's leg. 

"Yeah...well, thanks for coming. I don't actually like being alone." It was something he didn't mean to admit. His face heated up and he pressed his nose into Lance's leg. "You should take off your armour. It seems safe here."

He made a silent screaming noise and cursed himself for thinking that Keith was kind of cute. The blue paladin gave the Galra boy a little smile at the thank you, definitely not feeling proud that Keith thanked him. Because he didn't care what the other thought of him. Yeah. 

Lance's own face heated up at the suggestion of him taking off his armor. "Jeez Keith you could have taken me out to dinner first." he mumbled weakly, a little dust of pink on his cheeks.

Keith looked up with a small huff, ears pinning back. "I just suggested it because it'll be hard to sleep in that. Besides, I'm going to use my tail to fish. So we don't need to go wandering for food."   
  
He stopped the remark that they were going to have dinner. That wasn't important. He just...didn't want to he the only one without armour on.

Lance mumbled out something along the lines of 'don't hurt your tail' and sighed dramatically. He pushed Keith off his lap for a moment and kicked off his thigh, calf, and shin armor before reaching up to take off his helmet, chestplate, and arm armor, still keeping his boots on. 

The blue paladin glanced down at the red one and almost felt self-conscience at the fact that he was looking at him. He turned away quickly and pat his lap, motion the Galra to put his head there. 

"Satisfied, kittycat?" Lance said and gave Keith a quirky smirk, a fluttery feeling in his chest that he didn't want to acknowledge just yet.

Keith adjusted himself and watched Lance's armor pile up next to his. If he glanced at Lance then it was just a quick one, right? He flushed at the smirk and the nickname. "I'm not a cat..." He protested and looked away for a while. "I uh...should fish or something. Can you make a fire?”

"But won't that hurt your tail?" he asked him, hiding his slight disappointment that he couldn't touch his ears. He shook his head, why did this planet have to be the planet of truth, huh? Why not the planet of food or babes or Keith or-- WHAT? 

Lance immediately started to gather some wood for a fire, which was difficult because the whole planet was wet and rarely had and any dry wood. At least it kept him distracted. Once he found some, he stared at it for a while, wondering how exactly was his going to start a fire without making a fool of himself. He slowly start to rub two pieces of wood together, like they do one TV right??

Keith just shrugged and dipped his tail in the water, flickering it around. It was quickly attracting fish. "Yeah, a little but I'd rather not starve and fish have to be better than the green stuff Coran keeps shoving down our throats."

He leaned back to watch Lance before snorting. "Seriously? Why not just blast it with your bayard?"

He blushed and scowled at the red paladin, hoping that a giant fish would bite his tail off already (not really but STILL, annoying bastard!). "I didn't think about it shut up." Lance snarled, summoning his bayard, which quickly turned into his gun. 

Focus...aim...fire! He shot and the pile of wood, jumping back in surprise when the pile burst into flames. The blue paladin smiled at it and patted his gun. "One point of Lance!"

Keith snickered a little. "Yeah yeah, good job, sharpshooter." It had a light teasing tone. His tail got a tug. He tugged it back and looked down. "Lance, I got one. I-"   
  
He was suddenly yanked under the water and being pulled down quickly, failing

Lance's heart jumped at being called sharpshooter and his face felt oddly warm, a goofy like smile taking over his face which he quickly covered up with his hand. 

Then he heard a splash and Keith was gone. He was stunned for a second before, without hesitating, grabbing bayard and leaping into the water. 

He swam and looked around, seeing pink blurs rushing past him. Following them, he saw the red paladin struggling against a giant fish (shark?) thing that was attached at his tail. Lance didn't really know what happened, maybe because of the lack of oxygen, but his vision turned red and he was suddenly grabbing Keith as the pink glowing blood of the fish, who suddenly had bullet holes in them. 

He kicked his way to the surface, watching out for any other dangers and praying that the teen in his arms wasn't hurt.

Keith was struggling to free himself. He reached out toward Lance as soon as he saw him. He was nowhere as graceful I'm the water as Lance. When they broke the surface, Keith coughed out water and shivered, trying to catch his breath.

Lance panted as well, helping Keith swim to the shore, which luckily wasn't too far. They both shuddered once they got to land. The blue paladin put the other next to the fire, glaring intensely at him and sitting down next to him. He sat in silence for a while, trying to process what just happened. 

"You..." Lance began, gulping and balling his hands into fists. He wanted to criticize him, telling him that he was an idiot for doing that but his voice would not let him speak. "Are you...okay?" the blue paladin mumbled out in a exhale, not looking at Keith.

Keith shook off once he was on shore. He coughed out water for another moment before looking up at Lance. "I.. uh... I think so?"   
  
He pulled at his black suit, taking it off and leaving himself only in his red boxers. Now Lance could see he did have fur everywhere. He scooted closer to the fire, trying to warm himself up. He lifted up his tail, it was lined with bites.   
  
Frowning he brought it to his mouth, without thinking of it, and began to lick at the wounds.

For what seemed like the billionth time, Lance choked on air. Holy quiznaking shit. HOLY QUIZNAKING SHIT. "Holy quiznaking shit..." he murmured under his breath, his eyes not listening to him as they looked up and down at Keith's body. 

And then he was LICKING his tail. "W-What are you doing?" Lance gasped, his mouth was either watering and drying up, he wasn't quite sure.

Keith flickered his ears up at Lance's whisper and looked at him over his tail, eyes half lidded. He paused for a moment, "It hurts. This helps..."    
  
He lowered his tail a little. "Thank you...for coming to my rescue down there. I didn't know it had me until it was too late. You uh...you were pretty great down there."

He chest felt strange, like a balloon swelling and expanding. The blue paladin felt genuinely stunned and couldn't help the heat and redness that took over his face. "Y...Yeah no problem, i-it's not a big deal or-- or anything." Lance stammered, he felt warm and it wasn't just from the flames. He couldn't seem to look away from Keith. What's up with this?

Keith smiled at him, one of his fangs sticking out over his lip. Lance wasn't here to make fun of him for this. Hadn't treated him any differently. He patted the ground next to him. "So much for having anything to eat...sorry about that."

Lance glanced at the fang, for some reason questioning how it would feel before, moving closer to where Keith patted the ground. He chuckled and spoke, "It's whatever dude, it's not like we’re going to be gone from the castle for long anyway," 

The blue paladin was momentarily distracted by the purple fur on Keith's arms. "Do the bites hurt that much? I couldn't even tell what that fish thing was but for once you were right mullet, fish are freaking dangerous." he joked a little.

Keith huffed and curled up close as he dared to Lance. He was cold and his fur was retaining the water. He had an impulse to lick that too. "Not really. It's weird to have something that hurts that you're not used to having." He put his tail on Lance's lap. It had a few punctures on it. He watched the water run down Lance's face from his hair.   
  
He was impulsive. Keith never thought things through all that well. Instinct made him lean over and lick at the water on Lance's temple, determined to help him dry off.    
  
He froze and pulled away, face a dark purple under his fur. "S-sorry! It-it's... you're wet and I...I wanted to fix it? I just... I'm sorry."

He looked at the tail on his lap, eyeing the wounds with distaste. The drips of water were barely noticed as he looked at the punctures on the tail, he was starting to like it too and that stupid shark had to-- he felt something on his temple. It was rough but small and soft at the same time...like a cat's tongue. 

Lance stared at Keith while he made his flustered apologizes. The same weird goofy smile made way to his face and he fell into a fit of giggles and chuckles.  

"Heheheeh....pfft--AHHAHHAHA!" the blue paladin laughed, scratching the back of his neck nervously and trying to cover up his giggles with his hand. 

"You...hehHA...you're blushing really hard mmheh...it's funny!"

Keith turned an even darker shade of purple.  "How can you even tell? I have fur!" He protested but at least Lance wasn't weirded out. After all he just LICKED him. What was going on with him?   
  
He huffed and pushed against Lance's side, leaning against him with his ears down. "Shut it, Lance."

He chuckled harder and leaned back, little flutters curling around in his chest. They...didn't feel so bad this time. Lance glanced at him, watching some of the lavender water mix in with the fur. 

He decided that it was a brilliant to get revenge by...licking the side of Keiths head. "There, now we're even!" the blue paladin spoke, almost blushing and turning to watch the fire's flames flicker.

Keith hummed a little and decided he was comfortable against Lance. He was warm even though he was wet. His eyes were almost closing when he felt the tongue against his head and jerked up, eyes impossibly wide and his face that dark shade again. It hadn't felt bad...just really weird. He guessed he should of been mad, maybe thrown a fit like usual but it was kind of funny. And he'd done it first anyway.    
  
"O... oh..." Keith managed, reaching up to touch the spot with his clawed fingers. So they were even, huh? He just wasn't sure what to make of it. He smiled a little and looked at the fire again before leaning his head on Lance's shoulder.

Lance felt warmer now, he didn't know how but he did, his heart jumped a little when the red paladin leaned on him though. He fought the urge to push him off or pull him closer. Maybe he wanted a little bit of both. Oh hell no, it was too late for this kind of thinking. 

"Welp...I don't know about you but I'm pretty tired now and even though I'm skipping my beauty routine for you, I am not skipping my good nights sleep." Lance yawned, half leaning against Keith and half nuzzling the top of his head. The blue paladin was too exhausted to realize what he was doing. Or maybe he just didn't care that much right now?

Keith tensed a little when Lance leaned back, like he was unsure. But the contact felt nice and fought off the cold.  The nuzzling, while intimate, also felt really... nice.  Lance's nose was moving against his ears and he began a low and steady purring in his throat. "That's fine..." He managed, "I'm kind of tired too."   
  
He shut his eyes slowly and wrapped his tail around Lance's waist, securing the two of them together. He didn't want anything to happen to Lance while he was asleep. He nuzzled at Lance's shoulder slightly, his purr a steady and quiet hum in the dark.

Lance stayed quietly awake, breathing in and out slowly and feeling the rumbles of the others purrs. His became half closed and he leaned his head on top of Keiths. He made a humming sound at the tail around his waist in amusement, he knew that it liked him! 

His heartbeat thumped along with the sounds of the noises the red paladin made and the blue paladin was just fine with it. Lance closed his eyes and mumbled something close to 'sweet dreams, kitten' and fell asleep while feeling a little bit better and a little bit sweeter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for everyone who had made a comment, i read and reply to them all :D


	4. The Atmostsphere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Y-Yeah sure lemme just...!" the blue paladin said, sitting up so fast that both of their heads almost knocked together. He almost felt sad as the tail wiggled out from his waist, staring at Keith's yellow eyes.
> 
> Oh shit, they were close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is short, it's mostly just them talking and getting flustered XD

By the time morning arrived, Keith had pulled Lance to lay down more comfortably with him. His tail was still secured around Lance's waist but now the red paladin had his head tucked under Lance's chin, pressed up against his chest. He was still purring slightly. His ears twitched a little, brushing at Lance's chin as the Galra dreamed.    
  
He mumbled a little and tried to scoot even closer. The fire had long burned out and it left the air a little cooler and the body against him was warm and inviting and smelled good.  He buried his nose against Lance's throat and rubbed against it just a little.

 

Everything was dark, confusing because he was somehow blue. He saw something in the distance, glowing an tugging his body forward. Did he even have a body? As he moved closer, it was getting warmer, he was cool so he longed for it. His body hugged around the warmth, it was red and suddenly his vision was taken over with purple. And then he was purple too. And then he woke up.                                                                                                    

Lance blinked awake, not really jolting but it was surprising for him to see the pinkish purple sky of this planet's morning. He felt something move on top of him and looked down, giggling when he felt it tickle his neck and chin. Then the blue paladin realized actually what it was. 

He turned a bright shade of red, rivaling the color in his dream, his pulse spiking. Fuckfuckfuckfuckkkk! Lance had to get away, even though he was hugging Keith in his sleep. 

"Heyyy mullet wake uuuup~!" he whispered, panicking and not wanted to kick the red paladin off. It was freaking adorable though and-- HE FORGOT THAT KEITH WAS NOT WEARING PANTS OKAY THEN!!

 

Keith huffed out in annoyance. Normally he was up the earliest in the castle but he was comfortable damn it. He ignored Lance's request but snuggling even closer, which there was hardly room to do anyway. He rubbed his furred cheek against Lance's throat. 

"Mm, five more minutes..." He yawned against his skin, his fanged teeth grazing at it.

 

Lance made a high pitched whimpering sound as the teeth grazed his skin. His face flared hotter and he visibly swallowed. Okay okay, how does one wake up a sleepy kitten rival? 

"Ughh! Keeeeeith wake uuuuup!~" he complained, shaking him a little in his arms. Did he mention that the fur on the others arms were soft and his body was warm and cute and he had the most adorable sleepy voice ever...BECAUSE LANCE WOULD NEVER SAY THAT.

 

Keith put his ears flat at the sound Lance made. He was starting to slowly come to and the shaking did not help him stay asleep.  He finally sat up and slowly opened his large yellow eyes, peering down tiredly at Lance. He still looked half asleep as he slowly came to the conclusion that he was pinning Lance to the sand beneath them, now straddling Lance's waist, his tail still holding firm.    
  
He stared down at Lance, really studying his face. It was so red and he looked so riled up. He felt his own face heat up. "Shit, sorry..." He started to try to unwrap his tail so he could get off of him. "I just, you need to get off my tail."

 

"UhhH." he choked, blinking rapidly at him and opening and closing his mouth. Lances brain was still tying process what the quiznak was going on, he was still tired damnit! 

"Y-Yeah sure lemme just...!" the blue paladin said, sitting up so fast that both of their heads almost knocked together. He almost felt sad as the tail wiggled out from his waist, staring at Keith's yellow eyes. Oh shit, they were close. CRAP! Look down!

 

Keith barely managed to avoid getting hit in the head by Lance as he shot up. It did give him enough time to slowly work his tail away and hold it up behind him. It swished back and forth like a curious cat's tail as he found himself staring right into Lance's blue eyes.     
  
How had he missed how pretty they were? Now they looked like the ocean-impossibly blue and deep. He felt his face heat up again, forgetting that he was supposed to be getting off of Lance.    
  
"Your eyes are really pretty," Keith said rather quietly but loud enough for Lance to hear. Keith was impulsive and Keith was brutally honest and Lance's eyes were pretty okay?!

 

If he thought he was blushing before well this was nothing compared to what his face was experiencing in that moment. His face was scarlet, if it wasn't for the previous statement he probably would have thought he had a fever. Butterflies were twirling around in his body like a schoolgirl in love and he was sure that was going to faint. 

Keith had to have said that on propose. He had to know that the blue paladin would react this way right?! Lance decided to do the only thing he could do in this situation, he made an squeal of embarrassment and knocked their heads together. 

"OW! Quiznkaing-- why the heck would you say things like that?!" he screamed, it was only muffled by his hands, which were covering his face, the tips of his ears burning.

 

"OW!" Keith snapped and put his hands against his forehead. Why did everything he say come out wrong to this guy? He compliments him and gets yelled at? He growled out and rolled off of him, tail whipping back and forth like a warning. "The Hell, Lance?! I say something nice so you freak out?!" He didn't know it but all his fur was on end, making him look a bit more poofed up.    
  
"Ugh! You're impossible to figure out! I'm going to go find something to eat." He turned around and began to storm off, keeping his distance from the water.

 

He opened his mouth to yell at him some more but Keith was already on the move and he scowled. His face was still bright red, chest clenching up to the point of being borderline uncomfortable. Lance stood up and groaned loudly in frustration kicking some of the red paladin armor. 

"Stupid stupid stupid idiot!" he seethed, not sure if you was talking to himself or Keith. He just had to say that didn't he?! That impulsive beautiful bastard! Lance put on his own armor angrily. The blue paladin kicked the water, freaking fish, stupid planet! It was its fault for making him feel this way right?! RIGHT?!  

Yeah...he was right. His heart thumped painfully.

 

Keith could feel a weird disappointment in his chest. He just... didn't get it. The other paladins were really good at interacting with each other and he was sort of just...there. He glanced at his reflection in the water. Great. He was walking across a random planet in just his underwear. He really studied himself though. The fur, the way his tail moved, his ears. Hell, even his nose was twitching and he realized he was actually making sure he was still close enough to catch Lance's scent.   
  
He blushed again and looked away from his own reflection. He felt...oddly attached to Lance. He never said a word about him being a Galra now. Treated him just the same with only a little teasing and a few jokes. Hell, he didn't even make fun of him for getting nearly drowned by a freaking fish.   
  
He smiled a touch. Their fight was actually pretty normal considering. He wasn't actually mad, just...frustrated. "Your eyes are pretty...." He repeated more to himself. "Wow, Keith...way to be lame." Now that he was looking back on it, it did seem out of the blue. No wonder Lance was so freaked out.   
  
He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. He should... apologize? Talk to him? Something. He looked around and noticed some holes in the ground that bubbled. Huh.   
  
Keith rushed back to Lance with his arms full and a smirk on his face. He had tons of purplish crabs in his arms, holding the squirming, pinching things as carefully as he could as he took back to the blue paladin. "Lance!" He called out, just pleased as Hell with himself. "I found some food."

 

He was pacing back and forth by the time Keith was approaching. Should he say something when he got back? Apologize? His pride wouldn't allow that, no way! Maybe he should just ignore it? Pretend it never happened, it worked last time! But how? Wait-- what if Keith was in danger right now and that's why he's taking so long? He stop pacing and gasped. What if he left without him?! 

Lance felt a flash of anger and sadness again and turned around only to hear the red paladin call his name. For some reason seeing Keith in his underwear carrying a bunch of crabs was freaking hilarious and made the blue paladin grin. 

"What? How did you?? Wait...Keith how are we supposed to eat them??" he tilted his head, examining him and taking off his helmet.

 

Keith's tail was moving quickly back and forth as he stopped. His ears were up and he was smiling brightly at the other paladin. 

"We just make a fire like last night! I bet my bayard can cut right through them no problem. You're from the beach right? You must of had crabs before."  The grin on his face showed his fangs off and he picked one of the squirming crabs out of his arms and held it toward Lance. "What do you think?"

 

He was not used to this overly excited version of Keith, he was acting like a cat that just caught a bird and wanted to show it to their master. Lance felt strangely touched that the red paladin actually remembered where he was from and he stared at him in a soft moment before he was flooded with excitement. 

He swatted at the crab in his face playfully and spoke with a grin. "Sure, sounds great! Good job mullet, you did a thing!" Lance reached out and ruffled the top of Keith's head, okay so maybe he had a really nice smile. But it's whatever, not a big deal that he was practically beaming at him with his adorable fangs. Not at all NOPE.

 

The galra purred as soon as Lance's hand made contact with his head. He even tried to follow it as he moved it away. He was really enjoying all the touching they were doing. He loved physical contact, he just wasn't good at giving or asking for it.  Lance had been super touchy ever since they got here. He was going to miss it if it stopped when they left.    
  
He dropped his pile of crabs and used his claws to dig out a hole before shoving them in to keep them from escaping. He was not going to mess up food for them this time. He hurried to his black suit and pulled it on. It wasn't wet now. He glanced back and noticed the suit automatically created a space for his tail. He breathed out in relief. He wondered if his tail had just ripped through the fabric. He went for his armor again but there was a hesitation. He wasn't sure he could put it on until he figured out exactly what being Galra meant for him and red. Instead he just took his bayard out of the pile and moved to sit beside Lance.

 

When Lance noticed that, he didn't say anything but he wondered why he still didn't put it on. He took out his own bayard and shot at the pile of charred wood again, this time making a smaller fire pit but it was alright. He stared at the crabs for a moment and turned back to Keith. 

"Soooo are we just gonna...stab them and then cook them and eat their insides? Also we better hurry up if we are going to go to the temple by the afternoon." Lance said, kind of awkwardly. He couldn't help it, this person beside him did say his eyes were pretty a few minutes ago. His face felt hotter at the thought.

 

Keith was watching the fire. He missed Red already. They hadn't been pulled away from their lions like before. She hadn't come down yet so he assumed everything was alright. And the Galra must not be attacking if no one had radioed Lance. Things were alright for a little while. Besides, he couldn't take it if Red saw him and wouldn't open her bay door for him.    
  
He glanced over at Lance again and caught his eyes again. He still held by what he said. They were pretty. Gorgeous, actually. "I think that'll work. And once we're done we'll go. I just...feel weirdly hungry. Of course I am an entirely different ...well...full species of alien...maybe I get hungry faster?"    
  
He took out his bayard and stared down at it for a few moments. He was afraid that it might not activate for him. He stared at it for a few moments before his sword formed and relief flooded his face. He slashed through the crabs with ease and handed the parts to Lance. "Earlier...did I say something wrong?"

 

He frowned a little at the relief on the others face, what the heck? Did he not think it was going to work or something?

Idiot. The blue paladin turned red again and opened and closed his mouth again, trying to find some words. Say anything! 

"Well...uhh you...you have a beautiful smile!" Lance shouted to him, eyes widening in surprise. Why did he say that? Why did he say that?! WHY DID HE SAY THAT?! ARGhhHH!

 

The look Keith gave him was one of surprise. He blinked a few times with slight confusion then reached up and touched the corner of his mouth. "I...do?"  He wasn't sure if this was a joke or? But Lance looked pretty mortified. He gave a very small, almost shy, smile. "You really think that? Or you just messing with me?"

"MaybeshutupIdon'tfreakingknowwhythequiznakIjustsaidthat!" he mumbled, turning as pink as the fish on that planet and covering his face. Lance gasped suddenly and pointed at Keith in accusation. 

"B-But that's not the point!" he gulped, why was the red paladin looking at him like that? "L-L-Like, wasn't umm weird...and weird to be complemented out of the blue like that?!" the blue paladin looked down as he spoke. He couldn't take this, this was way to embarrassing, why was Keith so unaffected while he was being a flustered mess?

 

The fast speech had Keith's ears twitching rapidly trying to decipher it all. He tilted his head a little when Lance pointed at him. He was so flustered. He'd never seen Lance so out of his element. It was sort of funny. Very cute. Yeah, Lance was cute...?

He shrugged a little, tail swiping back and forth in the sand and leaving a long trail. "No? I mean...I didn't expect it...but isn't that the point of compliments? So you feel nice? I mean...don't you like it when people tell you that you're a great shot? Or what about those girls you talk to? You compliment them all the time."

 

"That's-!" he started to say but stopped with his mouth still open. Keith had a point, why was he getting so worked up about this? And then he realized, because it was Keith, his rival, his teammate, his...something. Keith was definitely something to him. 

And he wasn't sure if he wanted to realize it yet, as much as the truth was clogging up his throat. He took some crab and ate it, still thinking of how to respond. "Uhhh...that's different??"

 

Keith focused on poking his own crab out of the fire and chewing on a piece of it. He was able to tear through it with ease to get to the meat inside. The claws and fangs were pretty nice, actually. He could get used to having a weapon he could always have on him.    
  
He flickered his gaze to Lance. "Different..." He repeated thoughtfully. He looked up a little as he started to work through it.  Lance always complimented other people but...he hadn't really heard them compliment him. Maybe he wasn't used to receiving it? That didn't seem fair. Lance deserved as much as anyone else to be complemented.   
  
Hell, Shiro constantly praised him but Lance...seemed to be left out somehow?    
  
"You know," He started, trying to think before he spoke. He didn't want Lance to think he was being patronizing, "I think you're really great."

 

Instead of freaking out like he normally would, he just ate some more food and blushed furiously. His body felt sizzling and he was...trying really and not to smile. Oh my gosh, Keith said he was great! YES! 

Lance felt the blush crawl up his neck to his ears and fuck he couldn't hold the smile anymore. "...Oooooooh myyyyy gooooshhhhh..." he mumbled, not looking at Keith still. They had better get going now but ughhh KEITH!

 

Keith glanced over and gave him a dazzling smile in return. He was figuring things out a little slowly.  Lance was never this flustered before they got here. He was trying to figure it out. Lance clearly liked to be given compliments. He'd have to think of some more.    
  
Washing his hands in the ocean, he stood and gathered up his armor pieces. He glanced at Lance and decided he liked flustering him. It was really cute to watch. Now he had his own secret weapon against Lance: absolutely showering him in compliments.    
  
"Come on, Sharpshooter. We need to get going and you're the best at navigating."    
  
Oh yeah, he was going to keep them coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter after this one is going to be the longest and the end of this fic is near! (also it features Coran, the best space uncle) I'm not sure if I'm going to have 6 or 7 chapters yet, if I make it 6 then I'll add a bonus chapter in either Lances or Keiths POV and not both for once!
> 
> LOVE YA <3!!


	5. The Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The grayness of the right arm quickly spread down to the right leg, Lance's leg, then the left, Hunk, to the left arm, Pidge, and finally the torso and head quickly grayed, Shiro, until the robot was barely there at all.
> 
>  
> 
> Voltron was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna get real

"You jerk, you're doing it on purpose now!" he complained jokingly, picking up some of the red armor and heading off in the correct direction his helmet was directing them to. They made their way to an opening and Lance's jaw dropped.

The building was broken in some places, dripping out with lavender water but it still looked gorgeous. The carvings on it showing pictures of eyes and spirals, which was kind of creepy and made the blue paladin think that something was watching them.

"Woah...that is cool."

 

Keith smirked at him, following easily behind him. He made a soft sound as he walked up to Lance's side and studied the building. Shit. That looked both creepy and awesome. Which meant there might be some danger in it. "If this is here... where did the creatures that built it go?"

He shuddered, not liking where Keith was going with that statement. "Coran said that people came here and left all the time...maybe they left too?" Lance said, shrugging and walking forward to the giant entrance archway. As he walked tried to walk through it, he realized that he wasn't moving, in fact he couldn't move at all!

 

"What the heck?! Keith don't come over here, some force is preventing me from moving!" Lance screeched as he tried to make his limbs work. It's like he was frozen, it didn't hurt but it scared the quiznak out of him, not that he would show the red paladin that.

 

Keith froze behind him with worry. "Lance?" He dropped his armor and held his Bayard up. "Hold on. I'll get you out. I just got to figure out how!" He began to circle the building near Lance. "Ask Coran? Maybe we need to do something?"

 

He groaned and managed to voice command the com and rang Coran. At first all he could here was a weird screaming sound that would have made him cringe if not for the fact that he could not move. "Uhh...hello?"                             .                                                                                

 

"O-Oh goodness Lance! You surprised me there, I-I was just...practicing some singing! Anyway, why did you call? Are you in any trouble?!" Coran blabbed, sounding a little embarrassed.      

 

Lance chuckled a little and explained their situation. "Ah I see! Well you have contacted the right person! The temple of knowledge hmm? Did you touch the right eye color?" the orange mustached Altean spoke loudly.             

 

"Uh...no? What does that mean?"         

 

"You should see some eyes on the side of the temple? I thought for sure they were there...anyway, just need to touch the one that your eye color is! But be careful, it must be the perfect shade! Don't worry though, you know your own eye color right?" Coran said confidently.

 

Lance let out a muffled scream. He was doomed. But he thanked Coran anyway and told him he was a great singer.

 

"Lance? Lance, what's wrong?" Keith was right up next to the building but not daring to come any closer. "Is it hurting you?"

He turned to the building and summoned his bayard. "Hey! Let him the fuck go before I smash what's left of you, you quiznaking building!"

 

"Keith oh my god NO!" he shouted, half laughing at how ridiculous he was being.

"Listen, you just got to touch the eye that is my eye color...which actually might be difficult for you...?" Lance said, wondering how this stupid temple worked. How the heck was the red paladin supposed to know his exact eye color?!

 

Keith flicked his tail back and forth and looked at the temple. There were a lot of eyes. He squinted at them and began to seek out the right one. "How would that be hard for me?" He asked as he looked through all the blue hues.

 

He blinked and would have given him a look of disbelief. "Well, how are you supposed to know my exact eye color? I don't even I know my eye color." Lance rolled his eyes, really hoping that Keith doesn't pick the right one and die.

"I know your eye color, Lance. It's like... the ocean... but not just any ocean. A deep blue and then the top bit looks like light coming through the water." He responded, staring hard at the eyes in front of him, concentrating.  

His gaze snapped to one and he approached it. "Like this one." He reached out to press the eye.

 

Lance took a breath of surprise, dropping down to the floor with a thump. "Whaaaaaat?" he cried out, standing up as the cave started to glow from purple to pink, in all its shades.

Then it stopped and it was quiet again. "T-That was poetic as fuck? What?" he blushed pink again.

 

Keith looked back at Lance, his face a little red. "Well...like I said. Your eyes are pretty." He was avoiding his gaze as he approached Lance. "Is it going to do that to me too?"

 

"Umm, I don't know, hold on a sec." Lance turned and leaned in so they're nose to nose, blue staring into yellow. Once he felt like he was satisfied, he pulled away, the flush returning as he walked to find Keith eye color.

Keith found himself blushing when Lance got closer. His eyes were so pretty.

"Wait- my eyes are pu-..." He paused and frowned, "Right...were purple." He frowned a little and focused on Lance, watching him. "Should I... step in the doorway?"

 

"Nope, hold on." he said, not really paying attention. Yellow, fiery, like the sun, warm but dangerous. He clicked on one that he thought was perfect.

Lance tilted his head when it didn't do the same thing for him. "Oh!" He walked over to the purples. Still fiery, but like the sky between a sunset and night sky. "Found it!"

 

"But ... my eyes are yellow?" Keith asked unsure. Weren't they? So why didn't that work. The planet is the one that gave him these eyes so why wouldn't it take them?

"And how do you know? I mean...you can't see my...uh not galra eyes? Are you sure it's the right color?"

 

"Mhm," he replied, pressing the eye, the building glowing again and stopping just as quickly. "Your eyes are yellow but they are also purple. But it doesn't matter because you are still Keith, yeah?" Lance spoke casually, sliding over to him.

"And um, as for your other question...your eyes are also pretty?" he winked, happy that he was barely blushing.

 

Keith gave Lance a long searching look. "Yeah...I'm...still Keith." He gave another shy smile and darkened under his fur. The wink only made it worse. "Thanks...!"

He rubbed up against Lance with his  body before walking into the building, purring warmly to himself.

 

Lance secretly fist pumped himself as he walked into the building behind the other paladin. "It's whatever, no problem-o Keithy."                                                             

There was a long hallway once they got inside, it almost shimmered with purple and pink, the cravings on the walls reminding him of the blue lion cave back on Earth, only with more names and symbols that kind of look like numbers on them.

"This is soo cool~! I wonder what they mean?" the blue paladin observed.

Keith's tail wrapped around Lance's hand and held onto it. "Stay close...we don't want know what's in here."

 

He looked at the tail with a smile, it was actually kind of precious the way it held onto him protectively. The hall made its way to an open room, it would have looked like an ancient library but there was barely any books on the shelves. Most were on the floor or on some on the stone tables.

"Something's...weird about this place."

 

Keith nodded, his tail tightening a little from apprehension. He sniffed around and strained to hear anything strange.

He used his tail to pull Lance closer to him. "Did Coran say anything about it? What do we do?"

 

"I-I don't know." he mumbled, looking around as well. Lance heard a crash at the corner of the wall and saw something purple run up and onto the ceiling. "What the hell?!"

 

Keith had his bayard out in a second and stood in front of Lance, glaring at the ceiling. "Hey! Come down here!" He  ordered at it. It hadn’t' threatened them but it could. He wasn't as friendly as Lance.

 

It made a creaking sound, tilting it's head before humming out a tune that made him feel...kind of sad. Then it looked at them, it's eye color changing to a similar shade as Lances. "Umm...I think it wants me to hum back?"

 

Keith was still defensive. He narrowed his eyes at it, tail thrashing with unease. "Fine. But if it comes near you then I"m attacking it."

 

He rolled his eyes and started humming a random tune that popped into his head. The creature hissed at him, walking over to the wall, eyes still on Lance. He tried again with a different song and it did the same thing, coming closer with its threatening gaze still on him.

"What do you want?" he grumbled at it.

 

Keith growled and moved closer in front of Lance. "Hey! Back off! You're not getting near him. What do you want?"

 

It didn't even flinch, still staring at the blue paladin, not moving an inch yet. Lance gulped, he couldn't think of any other songs...except for one. His heart ached with homesickness, it was a lullaby that his Mama sang to him. It didn't feel right to sing it out loud but the weird creature was still looking at him so it seemed that he didn't have a choice. Now look, Lance wasn't the best singer in the world, certainty not as good as his Mom but, humming the tune was easy.

He was looking down, it was kind of embarrassing and he didn't want Keith to see that he was tearing up a little bit. How stupid, he was so emotional over this but his voice wavered on the last note and he stopped. Lance blinked his tears away quickly, how long had it been, he was to caught up thinking about the ocean, and his family, and Earth...and...and--

"I-Is that thing crying?" the blue paladin managed to say, still looking down, the weird creature was actually crying red tears that looked like blood, shiny and full of sadness.

 

The soft hum made Keith turn to look at him. It was soft and almost sad sounding. He wanted to fix it. His tail wound up Lance's arm, trying to comfort.

He looked down at the creature and made a face.  "The Hell are you? " He moved down to his knees and offered out his hand, putting away his sword.

 

The creature, upon Keith approaching it, made more humming noise, similar to the one Lance just did. Looking at it closely, it almost looked like a rabbit, only dark purple with pink eye and redder tears. And the fact that it looked slimy with scales.

 

It stared at the red paladin's hand before wiping its tears on it. As soon as it touched them, they hardened to look like two small rubies. Then it ran away and disappeared somewhere. "T-That was...weird." Lance choked out.

 

Keith looked grossed out as it touched him. Ugh, why? But then they changed into rubies and he held them tight in his hand. They seemed...important. They were somehow...made of Lance's song?

He stood up and tugged Lance with his tail, starting to walk forward.

 

He didn't really know where Keith was dragging him to, he was still way to embarrassed to look up, but he let himself follow anyway.

"C-Can you like," Lance mumbled, cringing at his own voice. "Ignore my uhh...just ignore what just happened?"

 

Keith glanced back at him and the furry top of his tail flickered across Lance's face to wipe at tears. "I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing happened," he said giving a small smile.

 

He felt some emotion caught in his throat and his heart did some impressive back-flips. Beautiful smile...it really was a nice smile.

Lance looked down to hide a small, wiggly smile and a nervous blush, very tempted to kiss the top of Keith's tail. "Y-Yeah sorry...ridiculous I know." the blue paladin said, yeah...he was being ridiculous alright!

 

Keith flicked his tail tip against Lance's nose for good measure and started head deeper in. "You're always ridiculous," he teased, keeping his tone light.

 

He giggled, blowing the tail and softly taking a hold of it. "Shut up, you grumpy cat." Lance teased back with no hostility in his voice at all. The creature popped up out of nowhere ahead of them and lead them to a certain shelf, with only one book on it.

It was golden with many holes for something on the cover and few pages. The holes weren't really so much as they were place holders for something, some were filled with pebbles and ice while others were diamonds and emeralds and others jewels. But the thing in common is that most of the pairs stayed next to each other.

Lance look up at a noise to see the weird alien looking at Keith, as if waiting for him to do something. "Well...?"

 

Keith shivered a little at the air. He would miss this tail when he became human again. He decided it wasn't dangerous, a guide maybe. He kind of liked it.    
  
He glanced at the creature then to the stones that lined the wall. "Oh..." He pulled out the rubies and hummed Lance's song very softly under his breath as he placed them together in an empty slot.

 

The entire temple made a humming sound, each of the little items on the wall seemed to play its own note until it started to make one of the most heartbreaking melodies Lance had ever heard. It was a song about every pain, every sorrow, every beauty, and every emotional moment and discovery that the galaxy had to offer. The blue paladin gaped as the last note was played in the tune of his Mom's lullaby.

"Woah..." he mumbled, the entire building glowing again and revealing a path behind the shelf. Lance didn't realize it but he subconsciously moved closer to Keith until they were side by side.

 

Keith closed his eyes and breathed out. It made his eyes water. He unwrapped his tail from his hands and wrapped it instead around Lance's waist, pulling him closer. "That was beautiful..." He whispered and glanced at Lance before starting down the new path.

 

"Mhm..." Lance nodded, swallowing and walking next to the red paladin. His heart was beating harder and every part of him was buzzing with light. Take a deep breathe and calm the hell down!

The alien stopped at a door and took a bow, looking at the two before it let out a happy chirp, then it climbed the ceiling and went away. The blue paladin shrugged and opened the ancient door...

 

Keith could hear Lance's heart beating in the small, quiet space. When they got to the door, he gave the creature an awkward wave before it took off.  

He looked at the door and then to Lance as he started to open it. He used done arm to hold his armor and his other one went to his Bayard then stopped and went to Lance's hand instead, holding it.

Lance almost let out a squeak, jumping a little. Hands. Holding. KEITH. He sucked in a sharp inhale and briefly wondered why he wasn't letting go.

The door opened completely to reveal an...ancient alien auditorium? There was something that looked like a stage on the far wall, pink and purple crystal lining the walls and floor. And when he looked up, there was no ceiling, just a bunch of stars. Has it really been that long? Or was that the actually ceiling, Lance couldn't tell?

"WooooAH!"

 

Keith let out his own gasp of surprise, hand tightening on Lance's. He had honestly been afraid of what was behind the door. A monster? A creature to test him. It was impossible to know.

But now he was confused as well as awed. "How is this supposed to help me figure out the truth?" He asked Lance as he cautiously stepped inside. "I don't get it?"

 

"Maybe there is more to this place than meets the eye Keithyboy! And we are here to find out!" Lance puffed out he chest and spoke loudly, even though his stomach flipped at the hand squeeze.

He quickly gulped and shook it off, hesitantly letting go of Keith's hand and rushing to the stage. His hand felt more empty and colder now-- NO! Stop pouting, he came with Keith to help him, not h-hold his hand. The blue paladin climbed up onto it and looked up again.

 

"Lance, be careful!" Keith called out in annoyance. And they said he was the impulsive one. He looked good up there on that stage though. If anyone had stage presence in their group it would totally be Lance.

He hurried after him and climbed up onto the stage, putting his armor down and looking around. There didn't seem to be much else. Was he supposed to do something? "Try your lullaby again? Maybe it wants you to sing?"

 

He blushed and turned away with a cough. "I dunno...that seems kind of...?" Lance began. And then something interesting happened, the ceiling constellations started to swirl forming a giant imagine that looks like--

"Voltron!" he gaped, his face in shock and wonder looking between the stars and Keith's face. Even the colors were correct, all but one side, why wasn't the right arm red?

 

Keith stood next to Lance, watching with wide eyes. Oh wow. He noticed the arm instantly. Grayed out and dull compared to the rest, like Shiro' s missing arm.    
  
He curled his tail around his waist and looked away. So it was true. He wasn't part of Voltron  anymore. Red must of rejected him.

 

He saw the expression on Keith's face and scowled, glaring at the constellation. It didn't seem as pretty as it was before. "Hey! Whoever is up there," Lance shouted at the sky imagine.

"You are an asshole, you know that? Because there is no way in quiznak that Keith is leaving Voltron! Not on my watch or anyone else! I mean, look at him, he is a hothead, going-with-his-gut, fighter pilot, fantastic smiled, asshole! That seems to fit the bill of red paladin just fine to me!" Lance spoke, glancing at Keith before looking back up with a flush.

"S-So you can go stick yourself in a wormhole because if Keith is leaving then--then-- I'M LEAVING VOLTRON TOO!" the blue paladin yelled, at it was like a switch that had been turned.

The grayness of the right arm quickly spread down to the  right leg, Lance's leg, then the left, Hunk, to the left arm, Pidge, and finally the torso and head quickly grayed, Shiro, until the robot was barely there at all.

Voltron was gone.

 

Keith didn't want Lance to see how much to fake stars had hurt him. He loved Red, trusted her so much but if she didn't want a galra pilot after what happened to the Black Lion then... could he really blame her.    
  
Lance's shouting had him turning, ears erect as he was defended. His face turned a dark shade of purple as Lance tried to stand up for him. At  his mention of leaving Voltron Keith's eyes went impossibly wide. No. No no, that is not what he wanted. He jerked his head up as the colors disappeared and felt desperation well up. No No NO--   
  
"NO! Wait!" He shouted at the sky, rushing in front of Lance as if to get closer to them. "He wouldn't leave! He won't! I understand. I'm a monster. I'm a Galra but Lance is still part of Voltron! He's...he's amazing! He loves to fly Blue and he's one of the most strategic pilots I've ever met! I don't know Blue's trait's but...I'm pretty sure she needs a pilot who can adapt and who can think things through and who's passionate and intelligent and that's Lance! You can't just take him out of Voltron!  You..." He turned to Lance, ears drooping, "You can't just abandon it because of me. You belong there ."

 

There wasn't words to describe what Lance was feeling in that moment, the closest would have to be elated, filled to the brim with emotion. The heat on his cheeks felt hot and butterflies mixed with some ache that burned him.

"Keith, look at me." he mumbled, leaning close. "Listen up samurai, you belong with us. You are part of team Voltron and don't you see? Voltron would...we would all fall apart without you." the blue paladin gestured up to the sky, the picture nowhere to be seen.

"I need you to be part of team Voltron. Actually let me say it better, I want you part of team Voltron, because like I said before, we really are a good team." Lance mumbled, staring at Keith and giving a shaking smile.

 

Keith felt a warmth rush through him. Lance was the only one who called him that and it always made his stomach flip in ways he wasn't used to. He wanted so badly to be part of Voltron. Wanted to stay with Lance and the others as long as he could. Without Voltron Keith had...nothing.    
  
A really good team...his heart fluttered a little, his ears twitching at the words as they flooded through him. Lance wanted him there. He wanted him to be part of the team. He wanted to be. So why was he letting a bunch of fake stars tell him that he wasn't?   
  
He reached down and picked up his helmet, holding it under his arm. There was a resolve in his eyes as he turned to look up. "Lance is right. I am part of Voltron. I'm the red paladin and the right arm of Voltron. No matter what I am. Galra, human, or otherwise. The universe needs me and so does my team. And I'm not going to let you tell me Red doesn't want me anymore unless I hear it for myself. She's my lion and I trust her. I know her. She wouldn't abandon me."

 

It was like the universe was glad to hear the answer, red stars all lining up, creating a lion, Red. Then Blue and Yellow, and Green, and Black, roaring and creating the perfect image of Voltron, the defender of the universe.

"Hell yeah! Now that's more like it!" Lance laughed, nodding at the helmet in Keith’s hands.

 

Keith smiled slightly. "I see. I understand now. Thank you..." He looked at Lance with a warm smile and put a hand on his shoulder.

"And thank you for reminding me where I belong. Galra or not, I want to protect people and I want to be part of this. We do make a good team...and I want to keep being one with you. I'm glad you came here."

 

He blinked in surprise, smirking a little bit, although it was warmer than usual...? "You're welcome, told you it was a good thing that I came along!" Lance teased, nudging Keith's side a little. "But seriously," he said. "I would have totally left Voltron dude."

 

Keith felt warmer too. He wasn't exactly what his feelings for Lance were now but they were...changing. That was sure. He squeezed his shoulder then looked up at the stars. "Anything else you want us to know before we leave this planet?"

 

The imagine of the stars in the sky and Voltron almost seemed to think for a moment. Then the imagine of Voltron evaporated, unlike the other time it was gone with a flash of light, and only two lions remained, Red and Blue. Lance raised an eyebrow, was this about them?

Their lions turned to each other and seemed to growl, jumping and biting at one another playfully. Yep, definitely about them, he glanced at Keith. They suddenly stopped when Red nudged Blue with her head and them rubbing against each other until they were basically cuddling.

"UhH?" the blue paladin squeaked out. "I don't...whaaaAt?!"

Keith blinked in confusion at the display. He tilted his head, his ear twitching in curiosity. Huh...he glanced at Lance then up at the image again.

"Oh!" He beamed a little. "Our lions want to play together!"

 

He managed to nod, looking at the lions and blushing harder. "YEP THAT'S PROBABLY IT OKAY THEN LET'S GO KEITH COME ON!" Lance said louder than he meant to as he hopped of the stage, saluting the beautiful sky and fast walking towards the door.

No, nope, never ever, even if Keith being oblivious was almost adorable. His heart flipped.

 

Keith ran off after Lance though he kept glancing back at the sky and the two lions pressed together. It was cute. They should let the lions lose to play instead of fight all the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worked hard on that one XD
> 
> If ya'll want to read my other fanfics go to these link (they're short I promise):
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11156859
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11189100


	6. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I-I don't know about that but what I do know is...um well you-- you really do have a...erm...what I'm trying is that I--" Lance muttered out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is nearrrrrrr

He caught up with Lance and wrapped his tail around his hand. "I don't see how that's a truth though."

His eyes looked at the tail in his hand before looking straight ahead of him. It's not happening, nothing is happening at all. 

"Me neither. Maybe it's because we went on this thing together we are closer...or whatever, SOMETHING." Lance suggested in a kind of shy manner, seeing the broken melody library up ahead.

The brush part of Keith's tail kept flickering against Lance's wrist as they walked. "Yeah... I guess we kind of are, huh?" He said giving him another smile, much warmer this time. 

He was even walking closer to him, their shoulders nearly brushing. "I guess I can put my armor back on." He suggested more to himself. "And I should apologize to Red for doubting her."

"I-I mean I guess I don't really think so but yeah maybeee?"  he stuttered a tiny bit. BEAUTIFUL SMILE ALERT HELP HIM! "Y-You should have put it on in the first place and do you think she'll know about that?"

Keith gave a small laugh and pat Lance on the back. "Yeah, I probably should of...but I'm here now." He commented and let go of Lance's hand to start getting changed into it. 

"Well, they can read our minds right? I'm sure she'll know the minute I get into fly. You should contact the others, tell them we're ready to come back. Hopefully Shiro won't be too pissed."

Lance nodded and rang the com for the castle. "Heyyy guys this is the best-- I mean blue paladin speaking and we can confirm that we are ready to come back. Soooo can you pick us up?" he said smoothly, grinning even though they couldn't see him.                                                      .                                                                         

"Oh Lance! It's weird hearing your voice after a day of being without it, at least it was quieter. Anyway, Shiro will meet you back at the beach." Pidge spoke answering quickly. She sounded almost relieved. "Soooo...how's Keith?"         

Lance snorted and looked at the red paladin. "He's better now, still has a mullet. And still umm...purple."       

There was a pause from the other side before a sigh. "Oh well, maybe we'll find a cure eventually. For now, it's gonna be weird having a giant purple evil alien space cat on our ship. Allura is gonna freak." Pidge theorized, seemingly lost in thought for a sec.           

"Yeah I know...I'll see you soon." he smiled sadly and hung up. He turned back to Keith. "Shiro's gonna pick us up."

Keith had thankfully missed the conversation since his helmet was still under his arm. He didn't want to put it on top of his ears and hurt them. They were super sensitive. His ears flattened at the mention of Shiro and he glanced nervously ahead of them like he might be there. 

"Oh...sure," He managed and slipped back on his armor. It made room for his tail and he instantly wrapped it right back around Lance's hand, the grip tight. "You should uh go first."

Lance gave him a deadpanned look. "Keeeeeith, come on. He is like, our space dad or something! Let's just goooo together. You're not scared are you?" he groaned out, twirling the tail is his hand. 

It was funny how Keith was telling him to go ahead, but still holding on to him like a kitten.

Keith made a face, "He's not much older than we are," He pointed out but Shiro did sort of act like a dad or a big brother now that he thought about it. 

He seemed to relax as Lance messed with his tail and brushed up against his shoulder with his cheek. "I don't know. I just...I'm not scared exactly...It's just...complicated? What would you do if you looked like me?"

"Cuddle everyone, duh." Lance blurt without thinking, smiling at the tail brushing his face. What a cutie-- ERM YEAH. 

"And I would definitely not try to avoid the people I care about because of...complicated reasons?" the blue paladin shrugged.

"Even me?" He asked curiously, voice teasing as he studied his face. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sure Shiro will just be mad that we ran off on our own without our lions and without communicating with them." He shivered, an angry Shrio was a frightening one. 

It took them a while to get to the temple so he wondered if Shrio had landed already and was waiting or if he expected them to call when they showed at the meeting point. One more night with Lance couldn't be an awful thing. He rarely got to hang out with him. This was kind of...nice. They weren't really fighting and that in itself was amazing.    
  
He looked at their shadows on the ground. "Wait, we can't leave yet. We still have something to do." He owed Lance this. He pulled his hand away and grabbed Lance's hand, starting to pull him along into a run.

 

He went pink at the 'even me?' part and stuck his tongue out. Lance let out a yelp when he was pulled along, quickly running beside Keith. 

"WhA-- where are we going all of a sudden?!" the blue paladin stuttered, trying hard not to fall. This was unexpected but so was Keith sooo whatever.

Keith didn't let go of his hand as he pulled him along. He needed to give Lance something back for being so nice to him. He used his ears and his nose to seek out what he was looking for. 

"You were all excited to come here," Keith responded quickly, "Because of the water and the only time you even got to swim was when I was getting my ass kicked by a fish. So, before Shrio comes and picks us up, you're going to swim."

Lance's mouth dropped open and felt like his pulse was rocketing again. AaaaaaaAAAAAAH! "Oh my gosh..." he breathed before giggling hysterically. "Oh my quiznaking gosh! Dude!" his butterflies were going out of his mouth now, flushing up his face.

Keith glanced back at him as though unsure but seeing Lance giggling made him smile back. He sniffed out the water and brought Lance to the edge of the beach. He let go of his hand and motioned toward the water.

He stared at the water for a second, gazing at the pink and amethyst horizon. It was...so different from Earth but somehow having someone there was-- he looked back at Keith, "Beautiful..." Lance beamed and promptly ran into the water, with a kind of red in his cheeks. "WOOOOOO!!"

Keith felt his body warm up. Was Lance calling him beautiful? No way. He meant the water but it  still made him feel good. He laughed and jumped into the water after him, swimming after Lance.

It was really fun! Lance splashed the lavender water at the red paladin, giggling and trying to swim away when he was splashed back. 

Occasionally some of the pink fish would go near them and Lance would shout dramatically "Don't worry Keith! I will protect you!" and would either chase the fish away or, do what he did now, tackle Keith to the ground.

Keith was nowhere as elegant in the water as Lance. He splashed him back and chased him through the water both under and above it. He was mindful of his tail and the curious fish and laughed when Lance chased them off. 

Keith looked up at him, laughing and brushing his black, soaked hair out of his face. He grinned up at Lance, fangs over his lips. He laid out, breathing heavily, his tail moving up across Lance's back.

He giggles and choked up laughs died down so that way he could do what he didn't really mean to do, look at freaking pretty Keith Kogane was! Ugh, it reminded him of the Garrison days, staring at his mullet all day.

"Hey..." Lance murmured, hands brushing the red paladin's head and face. "Thank you."

Keith leaned into the  touches,  purring softly at the contact. "For what?" He asked and put his hand over Lance's to keep it on his face, moving it slowly up to his ears.

His heart skipped three beats and he had to audibly swallow down some nervousness. Lance smiled and brushed his ears, loving the purrs that came out of his mouth way too much. 

"For taking me to the alien ocean, for actually remembering that I wanted to go to...the uhh...ocean..." he trailed off, watching Keith's face. The blue paladin shook it off, focus! "I don't know? For ignoring the non-existent song emotional thing?"

Keith hummed with contentment, purring louder when his ears were stroked by Lance's soft hands. His eyes were half lidded as he regarded Lance. "You deserved it. You reminded me of who I am and how it's more important than what I am." 

He signed out and leaned up his head into Lance's touches. "I sort of...really liked this. You and me hanging out like this without being at each other's throats the entire time. Let's stay one more night. I know...we need to get back to Voltron...but this is the most...I'm really enjoying this."

And Keith wasn't even aware of what he was saying was he? He sighed, face completely red and eyes sparkling with something. There was no denying this anymore was there? Lance was kind of in love/like with this guy. "I-I don't know about that but what I do know is...um well you-- you really do have a...erm...what I'm trying is that I--" he muttered out.           

"What are you two doing?" Shiro said, a hint of a smirk, arms crossed and looking back and both between the two younger paladins. 

Lance let out the most girlish shriek and immediately backed away Keith, spraying water everywhere. He felt mortified, his face was freaking melting off he swears to Voltron-- 

"H-Hey Shiro! N-N-Nothing we weren't doing anything what?! No WAY NEVER! Why do you think we are doing anything?! Pfftf n-nonononono! Absolutely not why would I-- I mean why would we...W-WHAT I'M SAYING IS-- NOOOOOTHING!!"

Keith watched him, tail twitching, still humming out between his deep rumbling purrs. He wondered what Lance was going to say. He opened his mouth to question him when Shiro suddenly appeared and he let out a surprised hiss. Suddenly the warm, soft hands were off his ears and his tail was laying in the water.

He sat up and shook the water off, puffing out his fur a little, ears down. "I um... we were just... waiting for you." He wondered if he heard him asking to stay one more night. God, what was he thinking? Leaving Voltron for two days was already bad enough. 

He flickered his eyes to Lance and his tail flipped the water around nervously, waiting for Shiro to say something-anything about his current appearance. Lance was too far away now for his tail to reach and it left him feeling a little vulnerable.

Shiro quirked out a knowing smile, winking at Lance which kind of made him want to die a little bit. "I can see that." he nodded still looking between them. The black paladins eyes stopped at Keith, expression turning into leader mode as he sighed out and dropped his arms. 

"Well it looks like Hunk wasn't exaggerating about your skin turning purple this time." he tried to joke before scratching the back of his neck and approaching Keith. "Sorry just trying to...lighten the mood." 

Lance rolled his eyes and gave a thumbs up behind Keith to Shiro. He almost felt like he shouldn't be there but he really wanted to see. It was kind of rare for there leader to have a personal moment, certainly HE never got to see it.

Keith lifted his ears up rather shyly, tail still reaching out toward Lance but slowly curling back toward himself. "Yeah, a bit more purple than last time... or any other time really." He carefully stood up, his tail betraying him by reaching longingly for Shiro. He wanted his approval so badly. "Does...does it bother you? I can...put my helmet on if you want?"

Lance bit his lips sympathetically. He knew what it was like to want someone's improval. He just hoped that the red paladin would get it, had to fight the icy glare he was tempted to bring on Shiro at the thought. 

"No K-Keith it doesn't, okay look," Shiro sighed sadly, taking off his own helmet. "I...I know we all have had....trouble with the Galra in the past and until we defeat Zarkon it won't end but...you're different. My young soldier, my brother, and literally heh, my right hand man." he smiled, raising his metal arm. 

"And that shouldn't change even if you have ears, a tail, or even...um yellow eyes? That's kind of weird but that's not the ughh." Shiro stopped and muttered out something like 'I am not good at this.' 

"I need you and I'm sorry you had to go through this."                                                       .                                                                              

The blue paladin silently slow clapped in the background.

Keith let out a deep sigh of relief but he also looked at Shiro like he was his entire world. He was alright with this. His brother...he stood up and moved toward Shiro and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, his tail joining in and wrapping around one of his legs. 

He was purring softly, ignoring the comments of how weird he looked. It didn't matter. The fears he had of Shiro abandoning him and disappearing were being gently washed away by the tides that hit their ankles.

"Thank you..." He whispered quietly.

Shiro looked mildly surprised, hugging him back with a smile. "Of course Keith." he said back, closing his eyes. He broke the hug gently after a while. "Are you...purring?"

Lance laughed and wiped his eyes, he had teared up a little. "You'll get used to it~! By the way, that was adorable as quiznak!" the blue paladin beamed at the other two.

Keith darkened purple and glanced at Lance. He looked utterly embarrassed. His tail wrapped around his own waist. "Let's go back to the ship. I'm starving and Lance can't cook to save his life."

He gasped and placed an offended hand on his chest. "How...how could you...I thought we bonded! I can cook! Sometimes! With Hunks help!" Lance pouted, walking towards the pair and giving a quick hug to Shiro as well. 

Shiro chuckled and patted the blue paladins back. "Seems like you bonded alright~" he muttered under his breath. "Keith is right, we should head back to the ship."

Keith huffed at him and it seemed they were back to square one on some level though there was a tiny friendly smirk from Keith. He nodded and looked toward the ship Shiro had brought. Would he change back once he left? His ears were flat as he approached it, anticipation made his tail flicked nervously back and forth. What would Allura say or do? What would happen once they left the atmosphere. Would he miss this form at all? 

Lance had gotten him...kind of used to it. Very used to it, actually. It let him be touched without being afraid of instigating it. The blue paladin would probably stop it now that his 'cute' ears were going to be gone and he'd have no way of holding onto Lance's hand without his strange prehensile tail. It would just be back to the way it was. He shot a look back to Lance, eyes full of nerves.

He giggled at something Shiro said as they walked back before feeling a pair of eyes on him, turning to see Keith looking at him. 

Lance noticed the way his ears were down and the cute grumpy cat pout on his face. Why was he acting like that? Allura maybe? "What's gotten your ears all droopy?" Lance spoke to him, walking beside him.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen," Keith answered not sure if he liked that his ears were giving away his emotions so easily. He glanced down at Lance's hand but now that Shiro was there he kept his tail from wrapping around it. He looked away from the ship they were headed to. "What if I don't change back?"

"Then you'll just be Keith, with ears and a tail. I thought we went over this?" Lance answered, shooting an eyebrow raise at the Galra. He saw the glance at his hand and coughed, subtly as possible grabbing it into his hand. 

"Besides," he mumbled softly. "Allura can't do shit, remember?" The tail was warmer than before, he wondered why. But he really didn't want Keith to be sad anymore, angry Keith was better than that.

Keith relaxed a little when Lance grabbed his tail. It just felt like a safety net. He didn't know if Shiro noticed or not but kept close to Lance. "Yeah... I'm the Red Paladin." He assured himself and Lance with a heavy breath.

Lance snorted. "Mhm...I know. And you already knew, hopefully? So stop worrying, it's not like you~" he smiled, a little embarrassed at the public display of affection. I mean they weren't dating or anything!! No WAY! NOT YET? MAYBE?!

Shiro glanced back at his two paladins and smiled, rolling his eyes. "Teenages..."

Keith gave a small chuckle and tightened his tail. "Yeah. You're right. If I start worrying what will Hunk do?" It was a lame attempt at a joke but he was trying. 

He gave Lance a very small secretive smile. "You gonna miss my tail and ears?"

"W-What?" he flushed a hot pink, Lance's eyes noted the smile and saved it permanently in the his brain to remember. "I-I might, maybe, a little bit. They uhh...they are freaking adorable after all!" he continued, this was so freaking confusing, it's just a silly little crush probably?!

Keith let out a laugh and flicked his tail tip at Lance's chin, tickling under it. "It's rather fun to use it to bug you with," He teased him and used it to pull him into the ship. 

He would normally sit with Shiro to avoid sitting with Lance but he tugged him down into a seat next to him like they had been when they first arrived into the planet.

Lance wasn't going to lie, he blushed harder. He sighed once they got on, looking out the window. 

"That was funner than I expected. So much for looking at life, even if they were creepy barbie fish and a weird ancient-knowing rabbit lizard thing that has a good taste it music?" the blue paladin spoke, eyeing the water below. 

Still, he was gonna miss it, there were a lot of good memories there after all. Lance smiled longingly at Keith, maybe he'll say it next time.

Keith held his breath the entire time they were leaving the planet. His tail kept weaving its way up and down on from Lance's wrist to his arm and down again. He had his eyes closed, like he was concentrating. But even though they were in space, Keith's change hadn't faded. He was afraid to look. He could still feel his tail on Lance's warm skin. 

When he felt the ship shake as it tried to dock with the castle, his tail tightened around Lance's arm. He let out a breath and opened his eyes and looked toward the castle. His ears were down but his face held resolve.

"Keith, it'll be okay, me and Shiro have got your back." Lance said, surprisingly serious, a determined expression on his face. He was right of course, everything was going to be alright but, he wanted to be strong. For Keith. 

The blue paladin squeezed the tail a little. Shiro appeared on the other side of Keith, nodding at him with a smile.

Keith glanced at Lance and squeezed him back before slowly removing his tail and letting it hang low, just above dragging the floor. He nodded to Shiro before taking a deep breath as he got off the ship and headed inside. It felt weird being back in the castle after so long of being out of it.    
  
Allura was there and he could feel her stare boring into him from the balcony she was watching him from. Her eyes betrayed no anger but she didn't look happy to see him either. It felt like she was just there, trying to figure out if she should even let him into her ship.    
  
Keith swallowed and stood a bit taller as he saw Red's eyes flash on but unmoving. She still accepted him. He was still allowed her and he saw Allura glance to her. She nodded as if something unspoken was relayed between them.    
  
"Welcome, Paladins," She greeted and motioned for them to come in deeper. "I am glad to see you both well. Hunk is preparing some food for you."   
  
Keith felt his shoulders relax and he gave Lance a tiny smile that he turned on Allura. It faltered a little when she simply turned away and walked away.    
  
So he was in... but not welcome. He could tolerate that.

Lance eyed Allura dangerously, which, in itself, was pretty dangerous. He knew that the princess could knock him out in two seconds flat. The blue paladin gave a nice smile back to Keith, walking forward into the castle. Shiro went ahead of them, talking in what seemed like a causally conversion to an outsider. "Onward..." he mumbled.

Keith nodded as he walked toward the dining room. He breathed in deep as he stepped into it and saw Allura was nowhere to be seen.  He felt like he was starving. He sat down in his normal chair and looked to Lance. 

Hunk rushed out with food and grinned at Lance. "Welcome back, buddy and uh Keith, you're uh still purple...not that it's a bad look. Anyway I uh made food. You guys hungry?" 

Keith nodded eyeing the food. They hadn't really eaten in a few days. He had gone quiet now.

Lance grinned back at his friend, sitting next to Keith. It was good to see Hunk, even if he was a little nervous around the red paladin. 

"It's good to be back, and I'm starving! We had to it these weird purple crabs, it was crazy! I almost missed the green food goo." he chuckled, grabbing a fork. The blue paladin looked around, yep, nothing seemed to be different. 

"Anything weird happen while me and Keithy-Cat were gone?"

Hunk stared at Lance as though waiting for Keith to kill him but nothing of the such happened. 

Keith was just sitting there and staring up at the food good like it was the best thing he'd ever seen. He glanced over at Lance and his tail slipped into his lap under the table. "I want to go to the training deck after this. I missed too much training.”

He snorted, looking at the tail on his lap. "Of course you do. Don't you think surviving a pink fish attack, solving a weird alien old puzzle thing, and basically having a midlife crisis and solving it counts as some kind of training? Seriously I'm ready to sleep for ten thousand years!" Lance offered, shoving some food into his mouth. Oh quiznak, weird and alien ingredients never tasted so good!

Keith's tail was twitching under the table against Lance's stomach. It seemed nervous and fidgety and so did Keith, just a lot less so than his tail presented. He was toying with a fork idly before he began to eat what Hunk offered him.  

"So uh, did it tell you when Keith will be human Keith again?" Hunk asked sincerely. "I bet you guys will be happy to have beds again."

He patted the tail softly, rubbing it while eating something that looked like a vegetable. It wasn't. 

"Wellllll not exactly, we just kind of learned some knowledge about Voltron and some uhh...interesting stuff about our lions." Lance replied, mumbling the last part and glancing at Keith. The blue paladin hoped that it wouldn't be to bad from now on.

Keith hummed a little at the touch, his tail relaxing and the rest of his body following suit. He looked like he felt much better. Maybe he would like a nap.    
  
He wanted to lay near Lance again. He just couldn't do that anymore. He cast a longing look to him for a second then looked away when he caught Lance's eyes.   
  
Hunk looked between them for a second. "What kinda stuff?"

Lance's eyes lit in confusion, what was that look? He's never seen it in Keith's eyes before, it was probably nothing. He turned pink and pretended to choke momentarily.

"N-Nothing important, just our lions...fighting...andcuddlingreallycutelike." the blue paladin stuttered, looking around. He really hoped that Pidge wasn't around to see that.

"Aww! Does that mean you two figured something out?" Hunk asked, grinning wide.   
  
Keith nodded, "The lions want to play."   
  
Hunk gave him an ‘I’m so done with this bull’ look then rose an eyebrow at Lance.

"Y-Yeah what else could it possibly mean??" Lance said nervously, giving Hunk a look in return. Thank quiznak Keith was to oblivious to notice, stupid fake universe lion things.

Hunk just shook his head. Wow. Poor Lance. He pat the Blue Paladins shoulder in sympathy. "Yea...what else."   
  
Keith finished and stood up, pulling his tail away. He was more tired than he thought . "On second thought... I'm going to my room."

He shook of his flush and looked at the red paladin. "You want me to come with you?" Lance questioned before looking down because he decided that it was kind of weird to ask that. What the heck is he thinking?! 

"Very straight forward Lance, glad you finally realized something." Pidge walked in the room, holding her laptop in hand and grabbing some food on a plate. 

"It's good to see you two back though. Keith is still purple...interesting." she mumbled, half distracted by what she was working on.

Keith paused, tail whipping behind him as he tried to decipher the meaning. To his room? Or to just to their rooms in general?   
  
"Realized what?" Keith asked in confusion. He flattened his ears slightly. Everyone was going to comment on his fur.

Lance let out a horrified squeak and blushed red. What the fuck Katie! "NOTHING ANYWAY THANKS FOR THE FOOD WE'LL BE SEEING YOU BYE!" he screamed, slurping some food and swiftly grabbing Keith's hand, racing out the door.    
  
Pidge snorted, rubbing her eyes with a smile. "Idiots."

Keith made a sound of confusion as Lance pulled him out of the room. "What the Hell, Lance?" He cried out as was yanked down the hall.

Lance jogged a few more feet before panting and leaning against the wall. "U-Um...oops?" he quipped awkwardly, looking away to hide a sheepish smile and a rosy pink flush.

Keith was so confused. "Oops?" He echoed and his temper was starting to peek through. 

"Lance, what is going on? Did that planet mess with you or something? You're acting weird. Look, you need to lay down or something." He said starting to shove Lance to his room.

He giggled, slightly more high-pitched than usual. "No dude I'm fine I just-- wait where are you taking me??" Lance answered, flustered.

"Your room. You've obviously need to sleep or something. You're freaking me out." Lance was acting off and it made him feel off. His tail wrapped around Lance's thigh as the walked, demonstrating Keith's worry for him.

He jumped as the tail slithered onto him, it was cute. "I think you're the one who needs some rest, I barely even did anything." Lance mumbled. "Wait...awww are you WORRIED about me~?”

"No!" Keith shouted but his tail tightened. The fluffy tip twitching crazily and brushing up against Lance's crotch. "I just want you to not act weird!"

He shivered, it was starting to become mega distracting. Lance felt flustered and a flash of defiance. 

"Well it's your fault I'm acting weird in the first place so HA!" the blue paladin pouted annoyingly, it really was Keith's fault, making him feel things!

Keith frowned and his tail loosed before letting go. His ears were down. "Oh..." of course. He was galra. Even Lance had to be uncomfortable with that. "Right...sorry." He had thought Lance liked it but he must of been reading him wrong.    
  
He moved away slowly and walked into his room, the door hissing shut behind him.

Lance stood in silence, frozen for a good solid three seconds, before shaking his head in confusion and disbelief. "Wait what?!" he says to himself, speed-walking up to the door and pounded on it. 

"WAIT WHAT."

Keith opened the door, glaring and his tail flickering. "What? You're the one who said I was making you act weird. Just leave me alone."

Lance turned pink and replied with, "Well I-I just want to make things clear...your not making me act weird because you look Galra now." Even if turning Galra has made Keith 100 times more cuter than before. 

"And, I don't know about the weird part, because it's only been your fault for like, two hours, but," the blue paladin looked down and he heart thumped. 

"I don't mind it." he cringes at his words choice and turned away with a laugh. "ANyyyywayyy bye mullet see ya!" he began to speed-walk to his room, heat invading his face.

He felt so freaking stupid! Why does he have to act like this?? Especially with Keith! Fffffff- "ArgghH!" Lance mumbled into his pillow once he got into his room, squishing his face into the pillow. He got up and put on his pajamas anyway, falling asleep.      

Keith stared for a while after him. He felt his face heat up but he smiled a little. Oh. Good. Because Keith sort of liked it too. Weird Lance wasn't overly mean to him. Just...sort of cute.    
  
He smiled and shut his door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your support~! Next chapter is the finale one and I'm not sorry XD


	7. The Wake-Up-Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "W-WoAH...I...what K-Keith?" Lance breathed, heart pounding loudly. This was kind of odd. And amazingly terrifying.
> 
> "What you were doing before." he repeated and put Lance's fingers back on his ears. He leaned to nuzzle his neck. "What were you going to do?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

It was a few hours later that he found himself staring at Lance's door a tired thought in his head. He wanted to see him. He couldn't sleep and when he tried there were phantom fingers on his ears, in his hair...maybe one more night. He was in a large t-shirt he stole from Shiro a while back and some badly cut boxers to allow his tail. He couldn't wear his normal pants with it.    
  
He stared at the door. God, what would Lance think? He stood there debating until he sighed and hit the door with his forehead in frustration.

Lance woke in a start, hearing shuffling and sighing outside the door. For a terrifying second he thought it was the strange creature, following him to get him to leave Voltron as he promised. Then he realized that would be impossible. The blue paladin shuffled a little, hearing a soft noise coming from the door. He got up, did he seriously forget his beauty routine again?    

Lance walked to the door, rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning a little, what time was it? "Who...who is it?" he muttered, opening the door to see two bright yellow eyes. If he wasn't so tired, he probably would have screamed.

Keith jerked back in surprise when the door opened. His ears were upright and his fur fur on end.  He blinked, his yellow eyes glowing in the dull light. Now what? He was here and Lance had somehow known to open the door. He sniffed and caught wind of Lance's scent and felt relaxed almost instantly.   
  
He noticed Lance didn't seem to have his mask on or his green goop. He studied him for a moment and could smell the distinct scent of the planet and his own scent which made a shiver go up his spine.   
  
Okay that...that was weird. He'd also been quietly staring at Lance and sniffing for a few long seconds and he went a dark violet. "...I was...seeing if you were awake," he lied.

Lance's foggy brain couldn't really process how Keith was acting weird, he just kind of assumed that Keith was being Keith.

"Mhmm~ Okay, what's up then? I'm awake?" he mumbled, wondering why the red paladin was here. Was this a dream? Keith was always so pretty so maybe it wasn't a dream? 

"Pretty..." the blue paladin whispered, unfocused.

Keith flicked his ears back. Right. Why was he here? He opened his mouth to reply then flushed all around his fur. What? Who was Lance talking about?   
  
Time to just say it. Impulsive Keith. "Can I stay the night?"

Lance blinked hazily, waking up a little at the question. "Hmm? Really? The pretty guy is asking to sleep with...me?" he smirked lazily. Keith looked really adorable in a large shirt, it was hot. Pretty kitty...he loved him~!

Keith looked even more flustered. "Pretty...?" He echoed like he didn't believe it. That smirk made Keith's stomach twist in strange ways. 

"I mean...not...not like that. I just...I thought...when we were on the planet..." He was fumbling. "I...I should go..."

"No no...you offered to sleep with me and you are going to...uhh, uphold your promise!" Lance whispered as loud as possible, trying to sound tough and dramatic. Because reasons. 

He quickly struggled to get his tired body to pick up Keith princess style and carried him onto his bedroom, moving towards the bed. 

"What happened on the planet? That made you want to sleep with me?" the blue paladin nuzzled Keith's neck, unaware of how incredibly wrong that sounded. Lance would die from humiliation later.

Keith was already dying from embarrassment. Lance was making this sound AWFUL and if anyone else overheard... He almost struggled when Lance started to pick him up but it was warm and just what he was honestly craving and before he knew it he was purring.    
  
Then Lance was nuzzling his neck and that was an all new set of feelings. Warm fuzzy ones and flip flopping ones in his stomach that fought each other. He was purring so loud he sounded like an engine on the castle. He could wrap himself up in Lance forever if he was allowed. 

"I uhm..." He felt his face heating up and he covered it with his hands. "Um...I don't know. It just...felt nice I guess. I don't know how to explain it. I just wanted to try it one more time."

Aww he was covering his face, it was cute but it hid his prettiness. Lance pouted, placing Keith on the face and then proceeding to grab the others hands to keep it off his pretty face. 

"Oh! Okay then!" the blue paladin beamed at him, kind of disappointing it would be one last time. Better make it count. He flipped the covers over and bought his hand on the small of Keith's back, while the other went to his hair, tangling in it, his hand resting on the kitties. 

"You vibrate when you purr."

Keith wanted to hide more but Lance was having none of it. Instead he curled into Lance the moment they were on the bed. The contact felt so good compared to his cold empty room. He rubbed his ears toward Lance's hand and pressed his nose against his chest, breathing him in.    
  
"I do?" He asked peeking up at him through his bangs. "Do you want me to stop?"

"Nah, it's cuuute~" Lance flirted, snuggling him closer, so cute, much cuddle. "Not to mention that you are soft. Now we can defeat Zarkon, WITH CUDDLES!" he joked and he was definitely hugging him in a way that was no way platonic. 

Hopefully Keith didn't take this the wrong way but honestly? Lance almost wished he did, not that this was the most romantic way to say it now.

Keith chuckled a little bit, completely contented. He nuzzled Lance back, touching his neck with his nose. He really liked Lance. Liked being held like this by him.    
  
"Yeah...you're the best at them. He wouldn't know what hit him. Except I would be jealous." He admitted and he somehow knew that he was only half-joking at the last part.

He giggled, feeling the way his nose tickled his skin. This was nice, he liked this. "Oh really~?" Lance teased, heart thrilling at the thought of Keith (motherfucking) Kogane being jealous. The blue paladin petted his hair and ears, almost like some kind of award.

Keith felt so good. It felt real and safe and just...yeah. Lance hit a good spot on his ears and he rumbled louder in his chest. His eyelids felt heavy and he hummed out the song Lance had hummed in the temple.    
  
"Mine," he muttered as his tail wrapped around Lance's thigh and calf. "All mine."

His breathe hitched, oh my quiznak Keith has to stop that, the butterflies were drowning him. Lance was going to cry at how precious he was, singing his song and saying he was...wait...HIS?! 

"I-I'm yours?" the blue paladin gulped, blush returning.

Keith gave a very tired hum. He pulled up the blankets around them and kept idly nuzzling. "Mhm..."

Lance was shook, shut up not the meme. "...oH." he squeaked, flushing harder and briefly buried his face into Keith's mullet. 

Jesus ever loving fuck he was adorable. "W-We...we should...go to sleep now..."

Keith purred softly as he nodded. Sleep sounded good. He fell asleep holding onto him, feeling comfortable and safe.

He yawned and glanced downward, leaning back just a tiny bit to see the red Paladin's face. What a pretty kitty. Before Lance could chicken out, he kissed Keith's forehead. He fell asleep to the softness of his fur and the rumbles of a purring cat.

Keith stayed curled up with Lance the entire night. He slept better than he had in months. No nightmares just gentle dreams of pink waves.    
  
He stretched out in the morning against Lance and yawned. Opening his eyes he found himself staring at Lance's face. He was handsome and Keith found himself wanting to see his ocean eyes.    
  
Oh. He had a feeling that rushed through him. He liked Lance. A lot. Too much maybe. He needed to talk to Shiro.

Lance shuddered in his sleep and the movement, whimpering a little. No, don't leave, please, he didn't want the warmth to leave. He moved Keith closer, knocking foreheads. It felt so nice, if the blue paladin could he would be purring.

Keith frowned at the whimper.  Was he having a nightmare?  He was quickly realizing that getting up was going to be a lost cause. He gave a gentle bump of his forehead against Lance's.    
  
He could be late in getting back up. He slotted himself back into place and sighed. Yeah. He could get used to this everyday.    
  
He fell back asleep.

The blue paladin let out a happy sigh, snuggling closer. His warmth was back and he was happy. Lance fell into deeper sleep.   
  
Pidge walked into Keith's room about two have hours later. She gaped at the pair of cuddling Paladins before giggling. Blackmail sweet blackmail. Ten minutes later, she had 32 new pictures and 5 videos on her alien phone.   
  
Lance woke up finally, yawning and nuzzling the red paladin. He was so cute, he smiled, still half asleep. The blue Paladins heart kicked in and began pounding. Oh my gOD HE WAS CUDDLING WITH KEITH!! "Holy quiznak yessss." he squealed, both dying and fist pumping himself.

Keith yawned when he was nuzzled and nuzzled right back. The voice woke him up a little more and he stared up at Lance, his hair and fur messed up, eyes blinking slowly. Oh, there were those ocean eyes. He could drown in those without a care. He loved Lance's eye color, it's how he knew how to find it at the temple.    
  
Not really awake Keith brushed his cheek over Lance's a few times. This person was his.

Lance let out a nervous giggle, trying to figure out where he should look, his bed head or his sleepy yellow eyes, both of which were adorable. Lance flushed red as his face was rubbed and had to resist the urge to head butt Keith again. They were so close, his heart couldn't take it, he only figured out his tiny (okay maybe it was a little bigger than ‘tiny’) crush on the red paladin yesterday! "Woah there, good morning to you to, kittyboy."

Keith pulled away once he was satisfied and stared at Lance again. "M'not a cat..." he defended. He arched up like a cat a few seconds later and cracked his back, tail unwrapping from Lance's legs.    
  
Ugh, still tired. He flopped back down, licking at the fur at his hand to smooth it down.

"Yeah, no, you are a cat." Lance snorted, gazing at the others pink tongue. 

He wonders if he could kiss it and taste Keith on his own and WOAH WoAH WOaH! The blue paladin's face went magenta and his gulped, he was /not/ going down that path. No way, no how!

Keith huffed but looked at Lance. "I need to take a shower. I've got sand in places I didn't know I had but none of my clothes fit my tail."

"What the heck. Alsoo just...put holes in your pants and underwear?" Lance spoke, stretching his arms up and flexing a little. Even if the over sized T-shirt was nice, it was extremely distracting to him.

Keith found himself watching Lance move. Damn it. When did this start happening? 

"But if I do that and I change back then I won't have any clothes. Everyone will just have a window to see my ass." He pulled himself out of the bed and pulled off his shirt, balling it up and tossing it in a corner. He forgot they were in Lance's room and not his.

God he hoped he'd have a window to-- NO. BAD PERVERTED LANCE. He pouted when Keith got out of bed, he missed the fluffy warmth. Lance's thoughts were quickly forgotten because Keith no longer had a shirt and holy shit his arms and legs and hIS BACK. 

Then the blue paladin realize he had been ogling at him for a solid five seconds and slapped his hands over his face. "WHAT THE FUCK KEEEEEEEEEeF!?"

Keith was looking at all his fur on his stomach and chest when Lance started to whine. "What Lance?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "It isn't like I'm naked. We're two guys. I'm just going to use the shower."

"Oh really?" he said loudly, having a bad idea that he was going to do anyway. Summoning the courage of his lion (Blue: <3), Lance took off his own shirt and looked Keith right in the eyes. He really, really hoped that this wouldn't backfired horribly even as his face was starting to redden.

Keith blinked as Lance took off his shirt and he scanned his chest, tail flickering with interest. Lance’s body was so lithe and good looking. He met Lance's stare with his own perplexed one. 

"You want to shower too? I mean I guess they are big enough and you do gotta do your morning routine thing." He shrugged and headed into the bathroom, leaving the door wide open.

He felt his skin burn underneath a Keith's eyes and his face was even worst at his next words. "I FuCkiN haTe KEiTH!" Lance screamed into his pillow, banging his head against it. WHY IS HE SO GOD DAMN EMBARRASSING??! 

Lance huffed and got up, walking towards the bathroom door, he might as well do something with his face. It probably looked terrible. Lance started to gather his stuff on the sink, visibility resisting the will to turn and look into the shower. Urgh...his skin was all messed up.

Keith was already in the shower. He was humming a little, ears flat to avoid the water. He missed his radio when he showered. He kept it off to the side so he could feel less lonely in the shack.   
  
"You're too loud, I'm so hyper   
On paper we're a disaster   
And I'm driving you craaazy   
It's my little game~   
  
I push you, and you push back   
Two opposites so alike that   
Everyday's a roller cooaster   
I'm a bump you'll never get over...~" 

He started to sing to himself quietly.

Is he seriously singing a cheesy pop love song? Oh my quiznak, he snickered and began to sing. 

"It's a love, hate, relationship. You say, you, can't handle it~" he hummed out, grabbing some cream. 

"But there no waaaaay to stop this now~ So shut up and kiss me!" Lance nodded his head to the imaginary beat and put a tiny bit of feeling into his voice. He still couldn't believe Keith liked that song.

Keith paused in his song and sputtered like he was embarrassed. He didn't think Lance could hear him. He coughed slightly. "I uh...like it when you sing." He managed lamely.

Lance laughed, putting some green facial mask on. "Thanks Kogane, you're not so bad yourself. Although I question your taste in music." he teased, clicking his tongue and snickering again.

Keith liked this familiarity. They were just in  the  bathroom together like it was no big deal. He felt oddly at peace. "Uh thanks...I only had a garrison radio so...I just picked up whatever anyone else was listening to."   
  
He started to wash his body and let out a weird startled sound. "Oh my god!"

Lance jumped and turned around, almost opening the curtain to see what was wrong. Luckily he stopped himself but he was still worried. "What? Whats wrong?" the blue paladin spoke, eyeing the curtain with curious concern.

"It changed my dick!" Keith cried in both horror and maybe outrage. "It’s all weird now!"

Lance paused and burst into laughter. "Oh my goD haHahah I-I'm sorry I'm sorry OkAyyy.." he swallow and made his giggles die down. "Okay how is your heh...your dick weird?"

Keith glared through the curtain. "I don't know! It just is!"

Lance glared back and forcefully took hold of the curtain. "How would you not know? Just tell me how it's different for usual or a I swear to Voltron I will pull this back and see for myself."

Keith made a strangled sound. He didn't want Lance to see his weird alien dick! "Its...I dont know! Theres like...It's uh...a I don't know what it's called! Whatever cats have!"

"Cats have dicks Keith! Is it purple? Oh my quiznak do you have a purple dick?" Lance wondered out loud, half laughing.

Keith let out a long whine. He opened up the curtain so Lance could see his very purple dick. His face was dark dark purple.

Lance choked on sip and his jaw dropped, was it just him or was he drooling? He swallowed, face burning while he held his breath. 

"O-Oh my...fuck...you have a monster dick f-fuck okay wow."

Keith looked mortified. "Its horrible, right?" He asked completely downtrodden. "Oh my god, it’s awful. It's bad enough I’ve got the tail!" He turned so Lance could see the tail right above his violet furred ass.

"Fuck me." he said out loud, eyeing Keith like a pervert. Which he kind of was at this point but okay the red paladin had a tight ass that he kind of wanted to squeeze? Was that bad? It probably was. 

"U-Uhhhh....it's fine, you're really, I mean /really/ fine. R-Really...YOUR BOD IS HOT." Lance finally yelped, turning around and throwing his hands up in a surrender.

Keith was still flushing as he stared at Lance. Did he really just...? He found himself staring at his clawed feet. There was no way. Was it a joke?  "Um...you think I'm hot?"

He put his face in his hands, groaning and trying to shake off the heat on his face. "Y-Yeahhh but like, objectively speaking and all." Lance said shyly, rocking back and forth on his heels. He still didn't have a shirt on his realized and began walking over to the sink.

Keith smiled a little to himself. Oh. That was still nice. He looked at Lance's back, watching him move. He felt impulse win out again. "You too," he admitted. "Objectively and all."

Lance almost tripped, face blooming with heat. He wouldn't mind this, waking up with the mullet every morning. He let out a dreamy sigh and did some more of his beauty routine.

"I-I knew that...but thanks." Lance glanced back at him, flushing at eye contact and turning away. Good thing the mask covered most of his face or else his redness would be very visible.

Keith closed the curtain and started to finish his shower. He felt better about himself. Lance always helped with that somehow. Even when he was being a dick about it. He finished his shower up and opened the curtain. He was dripping wet as the wet clung to his fur.   
  
Target sighted. He smirked as he flicked his horribly wet tail like a towel and hit Lance right across the ass.

"AAH FUCKING OMGOSH-- KEITH YOU ASSHOLE!" Lance shouted, rubbing his sore butt and glaring hatefully at the Galra. He bit back a whine when he touched it. That bitch!

Keith let out a loud laugh and held onto his stomach. So worth it! He was still naked, standing in the middle of Lance's bathroom and laughing like he'd seen the best joke in the world.

Lance felt a flush go up to his ears. Oh my gosh Keith was laughing and it was really fucking beautiful oh my gosh his heartbeat. If he thought he got butterflies before when the red paladin smiled, well, that was practically a wave compared to the tsunami that was taking place in his stomach. 

Lance fought the urge to dreamily sigh again. "YOU SUUuuuUUkK!!"

The galra finally managed to control himself and quiet his laugh for a few seconds. He shook off, spraying water all over the place before reaching for a towel. "I don't understand anything you do with your face."

"It keeps my skin shiny and pretty plus it rejuvenates your pores." he said in a matter of fact way. Lance was finished with the mask and washed it off his face, beaming at the results. He steeled a glance the check out Keith's back. 

"Oh my quiznak. K-Keith your back!" Lance exclaimed, looking at where the purple fur was slowly, but surely, disappearing. "It's going away!!"

Keith tired to turn and see but couldn't. "It is?!" He asked in both alarm and excitement. The change was spreading all around now, moving fast. "Maybe it's because I showered?"

"I don't know why but this is great! You're turning back!" Lance walked over, grinning and glad that Keith had a towel around his waist. The change was spreading quickly, moving past his back and onto his shoulders and chest. 

Now the only things that were left was some purple fur on Keith's neck, face, and upper legs. The tail was shorter now and the ears were smaller too. They were slowly disappearing. 

"Aww man." he mumbled and reached out to place hand a hand across Keith's back while the other petted the kitten ears.

Keith wanted to keep his ears. He tried to concentrate on keeping them. He purred lowly and shut his eyes, leaning against Lance. He shut his eyes for a while then reopened them, his strange amethyst eyes back.    
  
The transformation stopped, ears still perked and in Lance's hand. His tail, moving back and forth. His hands were still violet at the tips and clawed. He looked like a real half alien now.

Lance gaped at him, looking up and down. He looked pretty and he had to smile gazing into Keith's purple eyes. "Your eyes are back, not that I disliked the yellow ones." he gushed a tiny bit, running the tiny ears in front of him.    
  
Then his soft, loving look was replaced with the almost annoying flirty smirk. "So your dick is probably not purple then huh?"

Keith was completely puddy in Lance's hands. His ears felt so good. He looked up at Lance and made a confused sound for a second. Oh right. 

"Mm, I'm too nervous to look. You do it." He dropped the towel and focused on nuzzling into Lance's hand.

Lance once again choked on air. "W-What the fuck??" he mumbled, still petting the ears and glancing down helplessly at the others member. 

He was drooling again but for a different reason because oh my gosh Keith had a cute dick, flush to the tip. Let him fuck oh my god. "Yeeeep it's back to normal."

Keith could barely keep his eyes open. He was so content right now. He bumped his nose against Lance's collar bone. "Good. That's good."    
  
He moved his clawed fingers up and ran his fingers through Lance's hair. He wanted to return tne feeling. Lance was holding him captive.

Lances jaw went slack and he was having trouble breathing. Keith was naked and running his fingers through his hair and nuzzling his neck and he was going to die. 

"K-Keith..." he gulped, drawing circles on the red paladin's ears subconsciously. He was going to gets a nosebleed he swears.

The other Paladin was lost in sensations. The smell that was only Lance, the touch on his ears that numbed thought, his fingers playing with soft hair, careful not to cut with his claws.   
  
He looked up at Lance, eyes half lidded. He was so close that he could feel Lance’s breath on his face. "I like it when you pet my ears..."

Lances eye went half lidded as well, eyes swimming. They were...way too close...they had to stop...he was gonna... The blue paladin brushed their noses together, glancing at Keith's lips. He wonders if the other still had his fangs. Lance took a breath and leaned forward--

Keith could sense it coming like a storm. He felt his breath hitch as their noses touched. He found himself tilting up his head to meet him. They were so close. Was this really going to happen?    
  


  
  


"Hey are you guys awake aND HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Pidge screamed, covering her eyes.

The voice made Keith jump and push Lance away from himself.  He quickly grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist. "Nothing! W-We weren't doing anything!" He shouted as he took off to his room, the door slamming.    
  
He leaned against it, fingers touching his lips. They almost... He sank back into the floor with a whine. He needed to get dressed and find Shiro.

Lance stood stunned for a long moment, so long that Pidge hesitantly approached him and poke his side. "...KATIE PIDGE GUNDERSON HOLT!" he shouted angrily, watching as she flinched at her full name. 

"L-Look I'm sorry Lance I really didn't know but maybe it's a good thing. Keith didn't have pants and I'm pretty sure that someone would have caught you doing something worst." she mumbled, looking down at her feet.

Lance sighed and ruffled the youngest Paladins head. "It's alright Pidgeon. Maybe next time I'll catch the Galra Pokemon."    
  
She smacked her forehead and giggled. "Oh my god Lance you're a dumbass."

Lance lead Pidge out of the room to think, putting on a shirt and finally getting dressed. What was he going to do? Keith couldn't be that obvious right? Trying to kiss someone was trying kiss someone and...wait did Keith even what to kiss?! 

"Oh NOOOOOOO."

The blue paladin groaned against his pillowcase, he was suffering, nothing could save him now. Mayen he should talk to Hunk or something. Nah, he couldn't bother him with this. Lance felt sick, he just ruined any chance he had with the red paladin. Not that there was much anyway.

Lance sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I'm so dead.

Meanwhile, Keith waited a long time before he snuck out, dressed and sought out Shiro. He was jittery and almost freaking out when he finally found the older Paladin. "Shiro!"

 

  
Shiro turned around, holding something that looked like a muffin. He swallowed what he was eating, looking startled. "Oh, Keith! What's up? You look...woah you're less purple!"

Keith had already forgotten he was normalish looking. "Can we talk?" He asked in a rush. "Please? Privately."

Shiro looked at the muffin in his hand and then looked around him. No one in site. "Sure thing, what's wrong? Did...did Allura say something to you?" he whispered the last part, worried.

Keith looked around for a long time like he was paranoid. His ears kept twitching, searching for any sign of Lance. "I think I almost kissed Lance? Or I fell in love with him? Or both? I'm not sure what to do?!" He unloaded all at once, face bright red. He looked ready to have a panic attack.

"Woah woah woah, you almost kissed? Today? When did you...you know what that's not important, Keith, how do you feel about Lance? The honest truth." Shiro said comfortably, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder. "Just calm down."

Keith didn't look much calmer at all. He flattened his ears and looked up at Shiro hopelessly.   
  
How did he feel about Lance?  He whined a little. "I don't know? He's...hilarious and annoying, he's got those really amazing blue eyes and that dorky smile and it kind of makes your insides spin around when he looks at you..." He rambled in a rush.

"Keith calm down." Shiro said in his leader voice, trying to be ressurisuring. "It's okay if you like him. And if you tried to kiss him, how did he react?"

"I don't know... Pidge came in and I ran." Keith responded and looked at his clawed hands. "I... we... I might of been naked when I tried to kiss him."

Keith, that’s gay. Shiro rubbed his hand over his face, looking at Keth with sympathy. "Shhh buddy it's going to be okay." he said, not even going to ask why Keith was naked. 

"Did he pull away or protest? Did he look into your eyes and lean closer? Then I'm going to have to say that Lance likes you, a lot."

Keith tried to think back, ears down still. No. Lance had leaned forward in fact. Lance had instigated it, hadn't he? He blushed a little and looked back toward the rooms. "... I think he tried to kiss me first."

Shiro smiled. "Well there you go. Patience yields focus Keith, sooo if he tried to kiss you first then that meanssss...."

Keith lit up, ears going erect. Oh shit. "Thanks Shiro!" He shouted and took off for Lance's room, pounding on the door.

"No...problem Keith." Shiro sighed and glanced and the muffin before shrugging and taking a bite out of it. It wasn’t half-bad, he’d have to thank Hunk later.

Lance fell half-asleep at some point, wallowing in your misery really makes you tired. When he heard a knock on the door and groaned. "Hunk, I'm fine I just need some space. And if you're Shiro, fuck off. Just kidding, please don't ground me."

Keith leaned against the door like he'd done the night before. "Well, I'm neither one of those people. So does that mean I can come in?" He asked curiously, a small smirk on his face. 

Lance was trying to kiss him How had he missed it? And all those compliments? He must of actually meant those. He'd missed every sign there was.

Lance sat up on his bed and panicked for a moment, turning red. "K-Keith?! Yeah hold on!" he stuttered, rushing to the mirror, okay he looked fine. Oh shit what if he was mad? Or worse, what if he was rejecting him? He walked out of the breath room opened the door. "Yo...?

Keith was grinning a little as Lance opened the door. How had he been so blind to this guy? His tail was flicking behind him in unmasked anticipation. Hopefully he was right and Lance DID try to kiss him or this was going to get very weird.    
  
He felt his stomach flip again and this time Lance's hands weren't on his ears distracting him. He pushed into the room and let it close behind them before hitting the button to lock it. No interrupting Pidges  this time. "Do you have a minute?"

Lance's heart fluttered painfully, completely aware that Keith locked the door. Holy shit he was smiling, what was happening? "Mhm sure thing GrumpyCat. What's up?"

Keith looked a little embarrassed now that he was actually in the room. But if he was right then hesitating would only make this weirder or more difficult. He wasn't sure which. Probably both. 

He approached Lance and slid his fingers back into his hair, short claws barely grazing the scalp. "Do what you were going to do before."

His face flushed red and he was suddenly looking into Keith's lovely eyes. 

"W-WoAH...I...what K-Keith?" Lance breathed, heart pounding loudly. This was kind of odd. And amazingly terrifying.

"What you were doing before." he repeated and put Lance's fingers back on his ears. He leaned to nuzzle his neck. "What were you going to do?"

"I-I don't know," he mumbled, tangling his fingers though the others hair and reaching up to his ears. Lance eyes went half-lidded again, blush rising up to his ears. 

"It had something to do with our lips though and...you seem pretty eager for me to do it. Y-You got a crush on me, mullet?" his teasing tone was almost lost in his shuttering voice.

Keith purred and pulled Lance down closer with the hand in his hair. "I don't know, Sharpshooter, you got one on me?" His voice was flirty and downright dangerous.

Lance swears an arrow just struck his heart. "M-Maybe I do, Samurai, are you going to...do anything about it...?" his voice sounded...distracted, wavering with emotion and eyes clearly looking at Keith's lips. One of his hands brushed the red Paladin's face.

Keith smirked up at him. Oh so this was going to be the game, huh? Now Lance was chickening out. Still the nickname about sent him into cardiac arrest. 

He pushed his body against Lance's to pin him to the wall behind him and as fast and furious as he'd ever been, pressed his lips up against Lance's. It was full of both explosive energy and inexperience.

His brain short circuited and all he could do was flail to grip something for a moment. Lance closed his eyes tight and roughly kissed back with vigor, which didn't really make up for lack of skill but they could work with this. Kissing him felt good, shit, it was like something he was missing. Lance moved his lips, making little humming noises, heat flushing him from head to toe.

Keith was purring so loud they might not even hear an alarm blaring. Yes yes yes, this was amazing~. This is what he'd been craving for in the last few days. He was up in Lance's space, kissing and gave his bite to his lips, and yes those fangs were still there.

He let out a moaning sound and fuck, fangs. Lance realized his lip was bleeding a little now but he couldn't help but lick the others lips to taste before parting for air. He panted, opening his eyes with parted lips. That was... "Awesome." Lance huffed, lips tingling and he was probably making heart eyes right now.

Keith looked a little dazed himself. He was smiling a little, absolutely love struck. "Yeah.." he hummed out and nuzzled against Lance's jaw.

"Hmm...you purr really loud~?" Lance smiled blissfully, kissing the top of Keith's head. He lifted his face to the ceiling for a moment to take a deep breath and clear the Keith filled fog in his head. "HehaHAHAHaahA!" he began to laugh, suddenly nervous and giddy.

Keith let out a startled sound and gripped Lance's jacket in his claws. "What the Hell, Lance?" He bit out, not sure why the other had suddenly gone into hysterics.

He laughed harder, hugging Keith aggressively which made the red paladin yelp. "O-Oh hhaHAh...oh my fucking goOod." Lance wheezed, blushing harder. 

"I can't believe I kissed you holy quiznaking shit!" The blue paladin paladin exclaimed happily.

Keith huffed as he turned a dark red. "I kissed you because you were too chicken!" He shouted at him and tried to squirm away.

"Oh nonono you're not escaping this time!" he beamed and held him harder, making him back away so he could see Keith's face. 

Then he proceeded to smooch every part of his face...his cheeks, his forehead, and even his eyelids were not saved from his kisses. "Mwah!" Lance said.

Keith was struggling at first but then there were kisses and he was melting. They were kissing. The two rival Paladins. KISSING! 

He giggled and put his gloved hands on Lance's face to stare at him. "So...uh...is this a thing now?"

Lance froze, turning pink and his chest ached for some reason. He wanted this, he craved this for so long, a really long time he realized. "I want this to be a thing, like Keith, I really really really want this to be a thing." he said, smiling googly before his expression turned serious and warm. "I'm kind of in in love with you soooo I was hoping you'd do the honors of becoming my partner? Please?”

Keith wanted it to be a thing too. He just needed Lance to say it. He opened his mouth to agree when Lance just came out and said it. Love? He loved him? It sent a wild thrill through him. He smiled at Lance. "Yeah...I think I can handle that. And I'm pretty sure I love you too."   
  
The ground shook and he knew it was Red roaring in the hanger. Oh. The two cuddling lions. Got it.

A few seconds later he could here Blue purring, which also shook the grounded but with less impact. Lance laughed and turned hot pink. 

"Sooo we're dating I guess?" he grinned and kissed his cheek.

Keith grinned, blushing. "Yeah...yeah I guess so." He beamed at his new boyfriend and laced their fingers together.

He looked down at their intertwined hands and beamed so much that his face was hurting. And he was blushing. A lot. "Okay sweet! FUCK YEAH! Do you know what this means?!" Lance cheered, lifting up Keith's hand to kiss it like a promise. 

"I'm going to use all the cheesy pick-up lines on you!"

“Lance!”

“And, you know, love you and stuff.”

“You better, because I’m going to do the same”

“Heh...your smile is beautiful.”

“And you have pretty eyes, what else is new?”

“Keeeeeith!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END IS HEEEEEEEEEEEEEREEEEE! Thank you all so much for your support! If you want to read my other klance stuff just go on my account!! THANKS FOR READING!

**Author's Note:**

> COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS LOVED


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